Hunting Fundamentals
by WanderingSometimes
Summary: Isabella Swan and Daniel Warren, both Supernatural Hunters and "partners in crime" move to the mysterious small town of Forks, Washington. There, Isabella gradually falls in love with a future-seeing vampire named Alice while her world as she knows it spirals dangerously out of control. Bellice.
1. Prologue

**A/N: Hey guys. This is will be the longest A/N probably. I just wanted to let you guys know that this will deviate a lot from canon... especially in the fact that these vampires have blood and are susceptible to silver. The blood is important. It's what my entire idea was based off of. This story will be strictly Bella/ALice with hints and mentions of LeahxOC. In any case, I hope you guys find my changes and imagination enjoyable.**

 **Please forgive any grammar and/or spelling mistakes. I try to proofread.**

Prologue

The Book of Hunters, pages 1-4

Humanity is oblivious.

Every human being is oblivious to a world they do not rule – humans don't know about the numerous supernatural creatures that lurk among them. There are governments and orders within their own; these organizations are far more powerful than any human government.

Humans are ignorant to the supernatural. They have stories, novels, shows on television, and movies that entertain the idea of the supernatural. Most of them chalk it up to the imagination, beings that exist within the realm of impossible.

And truthfully, their representation of the supernatural is incomplete and largely accurate.

What they don't know are that vampires do prey on them, draining them of their red blood, both in the daytime and at night. What they don't know are that shapeshifters exist, shifting daily amongst them. What they don't know are that werewolves do shift into ghastly half wolf and half human beings, gain power with the moon's phases, and actively feast on human flesh. They don't know of fairies, skin walkers, or the true witches and warlocks that live amongst them.

Most of these beings, if they don't feed off of or consume human flesh, derive pleasure from terrorizing humans, for playing off their fear of the unknown and what if.

But there's one confirmed supernatural creature that serves to willingly defend humans from those who hurt them excessively.

They are known as the Hunters.

The Book of Hunters, page 6

Hunters, since their formation many centuries ago, have pegged pure blooded werewolves and vampires as the harbingers of death to humans and disorder to the supernatural realm. These creatures live for eternity unless deliberately killed in special ways…

Hunters are repeatedly trained in these special ways…

The Book of Hunters, page 7

… There are a number of tools Hunters have to use against all supernatural creatures, especially vampires and werewolves. For example, silver is a good tool to use against both, though it has different uses. Silver can be used to poison and kill a werewolf in a short period of time. For vampires, silver paralyzes them and slows their healing abilities, but on its own will never kill them…

The Book of Hunters, pages 13-15

Hunters descend from lineages. There are a total of three distinct Hunter lineages; Swan, Warren, and Franklin. Each lineage has a "specialty." The Franklin lineage specializes in hunting creatures of the light such as fairies. Those from the Warren lineage specialize in hunting creatures of the night such as ghouls. Descendants of the Swan lineage specialize in hunting creatures that transform, such as skinwalkers and shapeshifters.

All lineages share the same affinity for hunting vampires.

Lineages can mix, but only one will manifest in a Hunter. Lineages do not determine a specific heading in the Order. All lineages are represented equally. A Hunter does not need to have the last name of a lineage to prove they belong to it; it should manifest in their demeanor and their skills.

The Book of Hunters, pages 20-26

Hunters belong to a supernatural order which is also unknown to the human world. They defend humans from the evils of other supernaturals, utilizing their grueling training and impressive instincts.

The rules of the Order are strict. Simply being born a Hunter is not nearly enough; every three years, the Order announces the Trials. Completing these dangerous Trials are the only way a Hunter may become fully fledged.

The Trials are divided into four phases. Phase one determines natural abilities; lineages mostly help with this determination. Phase two determines a Hunter's weapon proficiency. This is tested through sparring and combat simulation.

During phase two, Hunters are assigned a rank. This rank is used superficially to help determine how good of a Hunter they will be – it strictly measures potential.

Phase three measures a Hunter's ability to hunt alone. Hunters are given multiple various scenarios where they must choose the proper way to take down a target. These decisions must be the Hunter's alone.

Phase four is the final phase. This phase emphasizes cooperation with fellow Hunters and the preservation of life. Hunters must learn how to coordinate. This is the only "live" trial – live meaning that the Hunters are essentially set loose, though a supervisor hovers in the general vicinity.

The Booker of Hunters, page 29

Those who fail their Trials choose between two fates – they can choose to be sentenced to a noble death or given The Wipe and live their lives out as "humans." The Wipe is an ancient spell that wipes a Hunter's genetic memory.

The method of death is determined by the Wise Ones, but is almost always painless. Death is the honorable option.

The Book of Hunters, page 34

Even after passing the Trials, Hunters must follow the core rules of the Order or face grave consequences at the hands of the Wise Ones.

The established rules must be followed at all times. Only under very limited circumstances should they be broken. For if these rules are not followed, then Order might as well not exist; should the Order not exist, Hunters become essentially useless and the supernatural world could fall into a state of perpetual unbalance.

… And more than likely all humans would be wiped out.

The Book of Hunters, page 72

Hunters must never seek the Forbidden Talent, which is immortality. Immortality leads to corruption and the loss of the true meaning of life, as seen with the immortality of vampires and werewolves.

Any Hunters that have sought and completed the Forbidden Talent will be declared as "rogue" and sentenced to death at the hands of fellow Hunters.

The Book of Hunters, page 93

There are many rumors that are spread throughout the Order about "love," and "soulmates." Ideally, a Hunter should not fall in love. However, it is not forbidden for a Hunter to do so.

If a Hunter is convinced they have found their soulmate or "One," then they can be with that person. However, the person must not prove a danger to the Order or its secrets and the relationship must not interfere with a Hunter's duties.

A Hunter's duties and loyalties will always be put forth before their "loved" ones.

 **There's more to come. :) of course, feedback is appreciated.**


	2. Chapter 1: Stalked

**A/N: Quick update because while it's chapter 1, it's a short one...**

Chapter 1

"Watch your step."

The black haired young man turns his head to squint hazel eyes at the tense shorter girl to his left. "I'm being careful, you know."

Bella casts her own glance in his direction before planting her foot and whirling around. "Not you, Dan," she mutters lowly, her hands flying to the large steel knife resting on her hip.

Before, she had been sure she sensed something or someone else around the both of them. Now she's certain they're being watched and followed closely.

She isn't willing to take any chances – she doesn't like surprises. Bella especially dislikes bad surprises that end in injuries, death, and blood.

Daniel stops just as abruptly as she had done. "Great minds think alike, huh? You sensed em, too?" he also spins around, directing his loud voice towards the numerous boulders and low shrubs that make up the mountainous landscape directly outside Phoenix, Arizona.

His voice echoes slightly. The silence of the night that follows puts Bella on edge further, the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. Are the vampire they're currently tracking privy to them? Are they deliberately and stupidly walking into a set ambush?

 _Not again_ , she thinks. Her hand tightens around the knife's handle as she thinks of her mistakes in the past.

Never again. Never would she make such a catastrophic mistake again.

From the corner of her eye, Dan draws the gun from its snug holster on his hip. The muscles in his forearms shift as he points the barrel in front of him, his entire slim but deceptively strong build entering into a more hostile stance.

"Hey," he barks into the night, his already lackluster patience obviously dwindling down to nothing. "We know you're there. Quit playin' and come on out."

Bella's sorely tempted to criticize him on his brazenness but bites her tongue. She's known him for years, and no matter what she says he's going to opt for unnecessary confrontation.

Of course, open confrontation does its definite place and time.

Such as now.

The low lying bushes rustle, their dry leaves whistling harshly. Out steps a figure cloaked in black with a hood draped over its tilted down head. Bella draws her knife from its sheath, the silver steel of the blade glinting dangerously in the moonlight. _So we were indeed being followed…_

"Show your face," Bella demands assertively.

"Yeah, and no sudden movements. Or you're gonna regret it," Dan chimes in.

The person – or thing – does not comply right away. Bella sense her partner's agitation. She extends a hand that grazes softly against his arm to communicate that they should be ready for anything, not focusing too much on this one being.

He abates, just in time for it to raise its head. A furred mask, carved from the face of what looks like a coyote, covers its whole face instead. Holes have been cut into the eyes of the once living canine, and through them the eyes of their stalker stare back at them.

"Who are you?"

"What do you want?"

Bella and Dan's questions overlap as they both speak at the same time.

"Hunters," the thing address them by their supernatural race. Its voice is a woman's and shockingly pleasant to Bella's ears – far from what the brunette young woman would have previously expected. "I know that you are tracking the vampires that feed excessively off the human population in this city."

Dan sneers, cocking the gun. "So you know we're gonna kill them. What, you here as their savior?"

"Heavens no," the masked woman snorts. "I agree they must be… eliminated."

Bella frowns. "Why were you following us?"

"I have information for you. Valuable information that is related to your interests."

"So you stalked us?"

The woman snorts again. "That's beside the point, young one."

"Spit it out already," the young man again intervenes, demands hotly.

"Not here."

Dan and Bella simply stare at the hooded, masked woman.

"After you both have taken care of your business, find me," she explains further, turning so that her back faces them both.

"And how will we know where to find you?"

The side profile of the coyote mask shows as the unknown woman turns to look over a shoulder. "You both are full-fledged Hunters. I have no doubt you'll know where to find me."


	3. Chapter 2: New Information

**A/N: Thank you for any and all feedback guys :D I know all beginnings are a little slow, but I'm glad to see people are willing to follow this story. :)**

Chapter 2

Slowly Bella pulls her silver knife out from the chest cavity of a decapitated vampire's body. Deep red blood oozes around the withdrawing blade, dripping into a glass jar mostly filled with the same liquid. Absently she watches it drip, trying to calm herself from the instinctual thrill of the kill. A fire burns not too far off to her left, and if she focuses hard enough she can see the thin purple smoke rising from the flames - clear evidence of the burning of vampire bodies.

A familiar hand comes down on her shoulder, shaking the female Hunter out of her transfixed state. She looks at Dan, her eyes unable to help glancing at his chest. His black shirt is ripped open there, from where he had slipped and sustained an attack. The blood has dried on his tan skin, the wounds having already healed.

Her gaze travels upwards to meet his hazel eyes, which sparkle with a distinct light caused by the vampire blood flowing through his system. He gives her a boyish smile that reminds her briefly of when they were kids, before they learned a thousand ways to kill other supernatural beings.

"Hey," Dan's voice comes out soft and gravelly. She looks away from him, and Bella can hear the sigh that escapes his nose. "That one's done. Here, I'll toss it into the fire with the others."

Bella pulls the knife's tip from the dead vampire. More blood dribbles out of the chest wound. Dan's nose wrinkles as he drags the headless corpse to the fire, tossing it into the licking flames. Purple smoke rises as the vampire's body disintegrates alongside the two others Dan and Bella have also hunted and killed.

"The hunt's done," Dan returns to Bella's side, eyeing the brunette carefully. "You know, I let it go before, but not now. What's got ya all wrapped up in your own head, huh?"

She stoops down to collect the jar filled with blood, and gripping it tightly, shoves it into his chest; a physical declaration of her wishing he'd not try to pry right this moment.

He takes the jar, holding the container awkwardly before producing a lid for it. He screws it until its securely covering the jar opening. "Scratch that. I know what you're thinkin'. You're worrying about that woman-thing."

"Aren't you?" Bella cuts her eyes at him. She starts to run her hands through her hair - a terrible habit she has when she gets worked up - but remembers the blood coating her hands and stops.

"Not really," he shrugs.

"She knows what we are. She tracked us for god knows how long, even while we were hopped up on vampire blood. Our kind is supposed to be invisible to the world, in all forms."

"Yeah," Dan agrees shortly with a dismissing wave of his hand. "We can kill her. Problem solved."

"That's the thing. I don't think we should."

"You just said she was a threat, you know."

Bella frowns. "I'm not denying that," upon realizing the death grip she has on her knife, she puts it away on her hip. "Killing her isn't viable. More than likely she knows what we're capable of. If so, then whatever information she has could prove useful."

"What if it's a trap?"

Images of bloodshed forever imprinted on her mind flashes across Bella's vision. She blinks, staring down at the ground below her feet. "I've considered that."

He laughs. "Right. I _am_ talking to the girl that knows the Book like the back of her hand."

Despite the tenseness that stubbornly refuses to leave her body, Bella smirks. "Of course you are."

"I'm asking: you have a plan?"

"I have a plan."

* * *

Bella had assumed that tracking the mysterious woman was going to prove exceedingly difficult, and had planned accordingly. She'd assumed that the hints and trails she'd need would be scarce.

However, she had been wrong.

Tracking the masked woman proves not much of a challenge. Bella leads them to a section of Phoenix that's still urban, but lacks the hustle and bustle of a standard American large city. Only a few people are about on the sidewalks despite the sun occupying the highest point in the sky; it's natural human lunchtime.

After checking the immediate area for traps and hidden enemies, both Bella and Dan hesitantly approach an older looking building. The reddish-brown outside is slightly dusty, the single door dirty from weathering the elements. A sign reads "the natural cafe" and an open sign is propped in a window off to the left.

The Hunter partners make eye contact with each other before Dan nods for Bella to push open the door. A bell attached to the inside doorknob rings, signaling their entrance. A quick survey of the inside reveals four humans scattered about the relatively small space, all too preoccupied with themselves to notice the supernatural duo. Sometimes she wonders how they can be so oblivious to the world around them...

brief but sharp pain enters her side as Dan's elbow digs between a couples of her ribs.

"Don't go staring off like that," he whispers his joking reprimand, slight worry coating his voice. "At least _try_ to look normal."

Bella cuts her eyes at him. Before she can issue a rebuttal (she is being normal - on a Hunter level) he moves over to the counter. She follows his lead, opting for silence as he speaks with the young human girl behind the counter.

"How may I help you?" she asks politely, though timidly. Her unsure gaze shifts between the Hunters before settling on Dan and his rather charming, boyish smile.

Casually he leans forward, resting a forearm on the countertop. "The real question here is how I can help _you_?"

She blushes furiously as she tucks a strand of loose blonde hair behind her ear and Bella almost punches Dan for his teenage like antics.

Dan lets out an easy laugh. "Sorry, came on a little strong, didn't I?"

"Oh, n-no! It's fine."

"No, no, I am really sorry," he glances down to read her name tag, "Melanie. I can buy you a coffee to make up for it?"

"Really, it's not-"

"Ah! I didn't mean to upset you," Dan pretends - unbeknownst to the young human - to get flustered as well. "Oh geez, what happens if you're the owner? You could have kicked me out for harassing you... wait, please don't do that! Are you the owner?"

The girl's blush only deepens, her already big eyes widening further. "No! I'm not the owner."

"So you're not going to kick me out?"

"Of course not."

A voice - the same woman's voice from the other night - sounds from a room somewhere off in the back of the cafe. "Melanie, surely you're not gossiping with visitors again?"

She calls over her shoulder. "Talking with a customer, ma'am!"

"Hey, is that the owner?" Dan lowers his voice. He leans over the counter more.

Melanie answers hesitantly, still blushing. "Yes."

"I know you said you won't kick me out, but can I talk to her? You know, so she doesn't blacklist me or something?"

Melanie nods, calling over her shoulder again. "Two customers want to speak with you."

"Send them back here."

"Cool," Dan says. He stands up straight again, and begins to write on a napkin. He hands it to Melanie - in its passing, Bella observes that Dan has written one of the numbers of their fake cell phones. "Let me know if you still wanna take my coffee offer, yeah?"

They step around the counter and make their way down a mini hallway. They step over a threshold into a room with noticeably dimmer lighting.

And they both jump out of their skins, hands reflexively gripping their chosen weapons when the door slams shut behind them.

 _Telepath?_ Bella questions inwardly. Her eyes dart around the room, cut briefly to Dan, and then ultimately settle on the woman's form sitting cross legged on the dark hardwood flooring.

Shit, if she just walked both Dan and herself into a trap...

"Okay," Dan bristles. "What the fuck was that? What the fuck are you?"

The woman looks up enough to reveal her coyote mask - Bella gets the feeling they're never going to figure out who this woman is, much less what she is. "I'm deeply sorry. I should've known that'd startle the two of you."

"Quit dodging my ques-"

Bella calmly steps in front of her partner, with an arm outstretches in front of him, effectively cutting him off. "We've found you: we're here. What is it that you have to tell us?"

Though it's difficult to make out her eyes in the dim light, Bella feels the weight of the mysterious woman's gaze on her. "Straight and to the point... as I'd expect a Swan to be."

Bella freezes at the mention of her last name - a direct reflection of the Hunter lineage she descends from. Only full-fledged Hunters know other Hunters' last names...

how did this woman acquire so much knowledge about them - about their kind?

"For the last damn time, who the hell are you?" Dan roars from beside Bella.

 _Could she be an ex-Hunter..._ and targeted for death by the Wise Ones?

No, no way. They aren't unfortunate enough to stumble into a rogue.

"My, you're quite the hot blooded Warren, aren't you?"

He cries out in frustration. He draws one of his many hidden knives from a sheath, making to charge at the masked woman. Before Bella can stop him, he blows past her with his weapon ready to pierce flesh and draw blood.

Within an instant, an invisible force knocks Dan back with such power that his feet lose contact with the floor. He's thrown backwards, off balance, and lands on his back next to a shocked Bella. The knife slides across the hardwood, stopping as it collides with the wall on the other side of the room. Dan groans in pain.

Casting a wary glance towards the masked woman, Bella helps him to his feet. "Do not do that again," she whisper-yells.

"Heed your partner's wise words, Mr. Warren," the woman warns. "I don't wish to cause either of you harm, but your violence will not be tolerated," she then produces a crystal ball. "Now, on to business."

The Hunters remain deathly silent, both sets of eyes watching the odd mysterious woman intently. One of her hands waves over the clear ball, its motions seemingly coaxing a swirl of smoke inside of it.

Humming contemplatively, she then looks up sharply in their direction. The coyote mask leaves Bella feeling strangely unsettled. A cold primal fear pangs deep in Bella's stomach, eerily reminding her of when the Wise Ones had stared as they sentenced her to death for her horrible, unforgivable mistake.

"In Forks, Washington I have it on good authority that werewolves and vampires are having land disputes, and that humans are caught in the middle."

She pauses, her eyes flickering downwards to the crystal ball.

"The werewolves and vampires are on the cusp of war. Both sides have already taken human casualties. More are to follow should no one stop them."

"Oh yeah?" Dan interjects, crossing his arms over is chest much like a disobedient toddler. "You know, if it's that big of a problem then how come we haven't gotten wind of it?"

"I am giving you wind of it," the eye-roll in her voice is evident. "These werewolves and vampires are very... covert, to say the least."

Bella arches a brow. "What do you mean by that?"

"They aim to attract as little attention as possible."

"Wait a fucking minute. Why should we even trust what you gotta say in the first place?" the male Hunter snorts defiantly.

"As old as I am, I have developed many ways, many contacts. Much like you both, I despise bloodthirsty fiends that kill without regard. I had plans of addressing the situation myself," she explains calmly. "However, after coming across you two, and knowing what you are, it is truly best handled by you."

"How do you know? Do you know more about us?" Bella pushes. Just who is this woman? And why does she radiate such knowledge and... Power?

The woman sighs. "The youth are so inquisitive these days. I suppose that's a good thing..."

Dan clicks his teeth, his chest puffing up from both his big inhalation and exasperated inhalation of breath. "You gonna answer us or what, old hag?"

"No, because for one, you," she points at Dan. "Are an incredibly rude young man. And two, please believe me when I say it is better this way. However, I will tell you one thing..."

Bella perks up at her last sentence. For some strange reason, he heart flutters in her chest as the woman turns towards her.

"I know forks will prove to be a very special place for you."


	4. Chapter 3: Misunderstandings

**A/N: We're almost to Forks...  
**

Chapter 3

ONE MONTH LATER

… _Forks will be special for you._

The words of the masked and mysterious woman play on repeat inside Bella's head. No matter how she tries to occupy herself, she can't shake them or the ambiguity they point towards. The possible outcomes drive her crazy, especially since she doesn't exactly know what the woman had meant in the first place.

It also drives her crazy that she doesn't know how good the information is. It could be outdated, partially true, or a complete and utter miss. There's no way for either her or Dan to know for sure.

Though Bella had been more open and receptive to what the masked woman had to say, she still remains uneasy. Both her and Dan are apprehensive, but she knows that they're similar in this specific regard – she knows he wants to check it out, move to this place called Forks to find out what's really going on.

And she wants to as well…

So they had agreed to jump ship from Phoenix – a city in which they've been successfully hunting in for some time now – to this seemingly odd Forks, Washington.

Since agreeing to relocate, however, they haven't spoken directly about it since. Allusions and hints have been made by both parties, but they haven't sat down and shared how they really feel about it. During their initial preparations for the move, Bella could see Dan's eyes go cloudy, his mind far away, no doubt thinking about the possibilities they could both be getting themselves into. And then the moment passes, and he carries on with what he had been doing prior, unwilling to simply offer up his true feelings on whatever matter has crossed his mind.

Bella always has half a mind to ask him in the middle of his little spacey episodes, but she always refrains. She drops it before she thinks about bringing it up, withdrawing into herself. She knows he can feel it too, the slight tension, but he refuses to say anything either.

They're at some type of silent impasse, and neither of them will speak on it.

In fact, Dan has went as far as to actively avoid her, choosing to spend a great build of his time with that human girl, Melanie. She's a bit hurt by his behavior, but more worried about the oddity of it; her partner is known for his impatience, his penchant for open confrontation. In silent stand offs such as this, he always caves first, demands to "clear the air" and for Bella to stop her covert stubbornness or else there'd be consequences to pay – all told in less eloquent words, of course.

So this avoidance is unlike him. Or perhaps it's a sign of something more lying under the surface.

Maybe that's why Bella accepts Dan's invitation to come along with him and Melanie to the movies. She should have known it was a bad idea from the start – especially when her partner asserts without prompt that it wasn't a date and that Bella would not be a third wheel. But her worry for his uncharacteristic behavior clouds her judgment, until she finds herself gripping her ticket stub in the dark theater as the third wheel.

By no means is the brunette jealous – having known him all her life, she sees Dan as her older brother. But the situation still proves awkward. And truthfully (preferably, to Bella) could have been avoided. She doesn't want to firsthand witness the human girl fawning over him.

She's well aware that he's quite the handsome guy, what with his black low-cut hair and his hazel eyes that burn with an undying fire for life. His features are sharp, but not exactly what she'd define as chiseled. In fact, she's say a lot of his features could be described as boyish – especially his classic big-toothed grin – save for the ever present stubble (that he shaves every day) that lines his jaw. He's definitely taller than Bella, but he doesn't absolutely over her either. He possesses a slim, athletic, subtly strong build and once past the brash exterior part of his personality, it's a lot easier to see his heart of gold and protective nature.

Combined with the fact that he is a Hunter, he emits an aura of enigma, as with any supernatural creature. A trained killer, he has a dangerous vibe that human males respect and human females flock to.

Therefore, she definitely understands why this Melanie girl is all over him. This does not mean she wants to be in close proximity of it. As a result Bella has sat a few chairs down from the "couple" to put some distance between them and herself.

It clearly isn't working because her supernatural senses still pick up on the girl's overdriven hormones. She can smell her nervous sweat, and if Bella concentrates enough, can hear the rapid pitter patter of her infatuated heart.

The sight of the two of them is simultaneously repulsing and aggravating to Bella. Repulsing because sure, she knows Dan has a sex life much like she herself does (when she so chooses, that is), but as his partner and best friend she'd much rather just hear the story from him – not witness it with her two eyes.

The aggravation comes from Dan's bad timing. They're almost done prepping for the move to Washington and yet he chooses _now_ to have a human hookup.

Admittedly, somewhere within her, the female Hunter feels bad for the human girl – she's absolutely stricken with Dan. She holds on to his every word, her body attempting as much as humanly possible to be in sync with his. Stars swim in her eyes when she looks at him, her heart racing and the couple times she's heard them having sex, she could hear the girl calling his name as she climaxed.

She genuinely likes him, but as Bella already knows, he's just using her for the easy sex…

… And both Bella and Dan will be moving to Forks in just a few days' time. He needs to cut off contact with the human girl soon, and not increase and facilitate her obvious fondness of him. He should know humans get attached entirely too quickly.

When the movie credits finally start rolling, and Dan drops Melanie off at her apartment, the Hunter duo return to their shared home. Bella determines she has had it up to her throat with Dan's nonsense.

Once the door to their apartment closes shut she rounds on him.

"Do you, by any chance, mind sharing whatever is wrong with you?" Bella glares hotly at him. She can feel her cheeks flushing, hot with all the emotions she's kept in checkmate until this moment.

Dan makes a confused face at her. He avoids her eyes. "What are you talking about, Bells?"

"Don't call me that," she snaps. "Dumb doesn't look good on you."

"Geez, now you're calling me stupid?"

"Quit it, Dan," Bella pinches the bridge of her nose, attempting to reign in her growing exasperation. "This is serious. _I'm_ serious."

He lets out a brief laugh. "Then how come you can't spit it out?"

"First, why invite me today? Just _what_ are you doing with that girl?"

"Honestly? You're being really uptight. I was hopin' that, you know, it'd get you out so you can get laid."

"So _I_ can get laid?" the brunette raises a brow. "By who? Your little girlfriend, Melanie?"

"Don't get crazy. She's not my girlfriend," Dan snorts defensively.

"Well, tell her that – she seems really taken with you."

"And? It's just a hookup."

"To her it isn't. You should be reducing contact, not fostering her infatuation," she paces now, her feet moving of their very own accord. _Sometimes he's so dense…_

Agitated hazel eyes track Bella's movements across the small living room, and a muscle in his jaw works slightly. Otherwise, Dan remains surprisingly still and quiet.

"You know we are moving soon, and you're leaving a potentially loose end. Do her a favor, save her the pain; she seems like a nice girl. Cut off all contact. Clean and quick. Is it really that hard?"

He still doesn't give her a response.

"Dan? Are you even listening to me?" she's borderline yelling now, all of her frustration pouring out of her at once.

"I'm listening, ya know," he affirms calmly. "I just don't think all this," he flippantly motions at Bella and her pacing, "is only about Melanie."

The female Hunter hesitates, stutter stepping. She stops moving to turn towards Dan fully.

"See? I figured. I know you," his voice becomes a cross of proud and inquisitive, his former annoyance taking more of a backseat. "What's really on your mind, huh?"

Bella puts her hands on her hips, feeling slightly defiant over being called out, but answering him nonetheless: "Forks."

"Figured that too," he shrugs off her pointed glare. "Yeah, you've been weird lately. You stopped talking about it."

"So you decided to avoid me?"

Dan shrugs again. "Usually when you get like that, you wanna sort it out yourself. I thought maybe you were gettin' cold feet about going."

"No, we agreed to go. We need to check it out."

"Yeah, yeah. I was more skittish before but all for it now. Not that I trust that old bitch. Taking down werewolves and vampires and stopping a war seems pretty awesome, just what we need. But I mean, if you started getting some bad vibes—"

"I'm not. I thought you were. Especially when she mentioned it being… _special_."

"Nah," he laughs before adopting a more serious expression. "I don't like that she said that, you know, it being special… feels like she's hiding something," he scratches the stubble lining his jaw. "Even if she's right, I was still thinking we could take care of business and then pay her a nice little visit."

Bella feels a weight lifting off her chest, though the underlying uncertainty of what's to come gnaws away at her internally. She absently fiddles with the bracelet embedded with the symbol of her lineage, wrapped around her wrist.

"One step at a time, Dan," she mutters after a moment. "And start your steps with Melanie."

"Yeah, sure, whatever, consider it done and over with," he waves his hand dismissively. "But only if you promise me one thing first."

Bella narrows her eyes, trying to get a read on him. "What?"

"Promise me we'll come see the old hag again… figure out what she really knows."

 _Forks will be special for you…_

"Deal."


	5. Chapter 4: Forks

**A/N: Thank you all for the lovely feedback. :) We have officially arrived in Forks. Things will pick up from here...**

Chapter 4

FORKS, WASHINGTON

"Hey, you mind passing me that?"

Bella lifts her head from where she had been rummaging through one of the many boxes scattered across the floor of the barren living room. "What am I passing you?"

The young man points to the box that Bella is bent over. "That box, there."

Bella snorts and then lets out a brief chuckle, knowing the true reason underlying his request. "I already counted them," she presses her palm flat against the side of the box closest to her and pushes, the box sliding across the hardwood of the room. The glass contents inside of it clink together once and then twice as he catches the box and peers inside.

"Yeah? I'd just like to make sure. Double check, you know, because last time—"

"Because last time I tricked you and you almost had a panic attack?"

"More along the lines of… you, Bella Swan, suck at counting," as Bella rolls her eyes at him, he pulls out one of the glass jars. She watches him smooth his thumb over the peeling label. "Some of these need to be relabeled."

Bella rolls her eyes again. "It's all blood, Dan."

"They're special," Dan says, his voice softening as a small smile works its way across his lips. "They're like our trophies, you know?" He removes another one from the box, tossing it around a bit in his other hand, the red liquid sloshing around the inside of the jar. "Trophies that sometimes help us obtain more trophies. Thinking harder about it, it reminds me of—"

At that moment, the doorbell sounds. Both of their heads swivel to stare at the front door, and then their heads snap to each other. Bella squints her eyes at Dan, who shakes his head; Dan raises his eyebrows and Bella shakes her head as well – neither one of them had been expecting any company. Before turning to put the jars back in the box, Dan gestures for Bella to get the door. Bella feels her heart rate pick up slightly, but she reminds herself of her folding knife, the weight of it clipped to her leather belt bringing her some amount of comfort.

The metal of the doorknob is cold to the palm of her hand as she twists it, opening the door.

"Hi!" An excited, feminine voice greets her. Bella's attention immediately snaps to a short girl, bouncing on her feet, with delicate features, with flawless pale skin, and spiky dark hair cropped fairly short in a fashionable style. Bella's chocolate eyes lock with the girl's golden irises. _She's so beautiful_ , she thinks. Her inner voice warns her that this girl most likely is not human, but she casts its assumption aside. "I'm Alice. This is my brother, Jasper."

Bella forces her gaze away from Alice to Jasper, who smiles a strained smile at her. She takes note of the tenseness of his chiseled features, and his golden eyes as well, before her gaze falls back down to Alice. "Um, hi, I'm Isabella."

Dan clasps a large hand on Bella's shoulder from behind. Her head turns to look at him as he steps forward so that he is just in front of Bella. Before he opens his mouth, Bella already knows Dan has thrown on his extra nice guy demeanor. "Hey guys, I'm Daniel," he extends a hand, which Jasper almost immediately takes.

Alice also takes his hand, her gaze still focused on Bella. "Hello, Daniel, Isabella. We see you both just moved in. It's exciting seeing new people around here! We don't see that too often, Forks being such a small town and all."

"It has its charms," Jasper supplies. His voice holds the traces of a southern drawl.

"We wanted to move to a place where not a lot of things happen. The quaint feel is nice, you know?" Dan lies with practiced ease and reaches up to scratch the stubble dotted along his jaw. "Where do you guys live?"

Jasper answers, "Just outside of town. We sit a ways off the main road, so you have to take another road to get there."

"You guys drove here just to see us?" Bella blurts out. Dan elbows her arm, telling her silently, _Let me do all the talking for this one._

Alice smiles, her teeth so brightly dazzling, her eyes crinkling a bit at the corners, her beauty radiating off of her, and Bella determines that there is indeed something supernatural about her – about them both, really. "We wanted to introduce ourselves."

"That's nice of ya," Dan comments before Bella can let any sound fall out of her open mouth. "We're still unpacking. It's a slow process, but we've got to get it done," his hand pats Bella's back with a little more force than actually necessary. "Right, Isabella?"

"We'd be more than happy to help you unpack."

"Oh, no, we have a lot of stuff. I wouldn't want to just meet you guys and then work ya to death. That's not right, you know?"

"Are you sure you don't need help? It's okay, really, we don't mind helping," Alice insists.

Bella nudges Dan with her shoulder, her lips curving up into a small smile directed at Alice. "No, but thank you. Daniel and I have it under control. We should be done soon."

"Yeah, yeah," Dan agrees, laughing as genuinely as he can manage. "I say we finish it now, so we can actually have a place to sleep."

Somehow, even though Alice's golden eyes remain light and playful, Bella witnesses a flash of disappointment in their depths. "Ah, well, I suppose Jasper and I should be on our way. See you around, Isabella? Daniel?"

"Yeah, sure," Both Bella and Dan speak at the same time. They share a glance before turning back to their would-be house guests.

Bella and Dan watch as Alice and Jasper turn to leave, Jasper lifting his hand to wave at them as they head towards a yellow Porsche – a very obviously expensive car, which somehow both she and Dan missed – parked close to the curb, directly in front of their short driveway. Their heads follow the car as it drives off, Alice waving from behind the wheel. Only after some seconds the car disappears from their sight, do they turn and head back inside the house.

"What the hell?" Dan gestures wildly to the closed door. He locks it and then peers out the window, his paranoia becoming tangible. "We move into this town that's barely even on the map, and the vampires show up right at our doorstep."

Bella frowns, stepping over the boxes in the living room, eyes searching for the large box that holds their gear. "Are you sure they were vampires?"

Dan shoots her a puzzled look. "What? You _don't_ think so?"

"They're not exactly like the others we've come across in the past," she says, bending down to take a crossbow out of the box. She reaches for a set of hunting knives. She removes the largest blade from its sheath, her finger running delicately over the sharpened edges of the knife to the inscriptions in the middle of the blade. "Sure, they have the ethereal beauty and super pale skin. But their eyes weren't red, and that's the telltale sign of a vampire."

"Hey, you didn't shake their hands. They were ice cold. You know, like the dead people kind of cold."

Bella furrows her eyebrows. She returns the knife to its sheathe, her hand reaching to take out an unloaded black handgun. "I wouldn't jump to conclusions. There are a lot of supernatural creatures we _haven't_ come across, dead and alive."

"Fair enough," Dan sighs reluctantly, and moves to dump a box of its contents. "But I'm still convinced they're vampires. What do you think they are?"

"I don't know. Their eyes were golden, and I can't remember any creature having golden eyes. We could check the Book."

"Come on, do you even know where the Book is? Besides, do we really need it? Remember what we came here for."

"Dan," Bella pinches the bridge of her nose, her tone tight with the beginning hints of exasperation, "Be suspicious, assume nothing. Remember?"

"Yeah, yeah, but we already broke that by listening to that bitch," Dan grunts out, and Bella can hear him grumble under his breath. "What's with that stupid look on your face, anyway?"

"What?"

"You look star struck."

"Shut up," she says quickly, successfully feigning ignorance. "And be useful," she looks pointedly at the cardboard boxes littering the living room, ignores his inevitable rebuttal and instead focuses on getting all of their gear out and prepared.

Bella's thoughts drift to the raven haired beauty that had been so vibrant with energy on their doorstep not even twenty minutes ago, and she has to admit that Forks is already turning out to be the most interesting place they have traveled to in a while. Perhaps that strange woman had been right – perhaps Forks is a… special place.

She fingers the bracelet wrapped around one of her wrists, feeling the insignia emblazoned across the metal. She's reminded of her lineage, where she comes from, what her last name implies, her duties as a Hunter and somewhere deep within her she hopes that Alice is something other than a vampire.


	6. Chapter 5: Starting the Hunt

Chapter 5

The truck's engine rumbles quietly as it pulls up to the front of the building, the gear shift creaking slightly as Dan puts the vehicle in park. The windshield wipers squeak as they swipe across the glass of the windshield, clearing the water droplets that had gathered. Dan puts the volume of the radio on low, and as a result the soft sound of the drizzle hitting the truck outside becomes amplified.

He turns to Bella, his fingers drumming on the steering wheel. "Hey, you don't mind being a normal girl for a second and going grocery shopping for a few, do ya?"

Bella groans, her hand coming up to cover her face. "I hate shopping, Dan."

"I know, but so do I," Dan laughs, shaking his head, sympathizing with her. "But you're better at getting the stuff we need, you know. I don't know anything about food except how to eat it," he pauses, tapping his chin in thought. "You're also good at not being suspicious about getting other stuff. I think you're perfect for the job. So, what do you say? Yes or yes?"

She shoots him an unappreciative glare as she slowly grips the door handle.

"Great choice!" He smiles brightly at her, giving her a cheeky thumbs up. His smile fades away quickly, and his voice immediately takes on a more solemn quality. "I'm going to drive around the inside of the town, maybe talk to a few people, check it out a bit. I'll be back for you in about an hour. We'll drop whatever you got off at the house, and we'll go check out the outskirts of town together."

"Got it."

"Try talking to some of the locals also," he advises. Before she can open the truck door, his hand closes around her wrist, halting her movement. "Be careful. Please."

"You too," she exits the truck into the light rain. As she steps through the doors of the grocery store, she hears Dan drive away, the sound of the engine growing fainter as he moves further from the store.

Bella sighs when she steps inside the building, her shoulders dropping slightly as if this menial task actively weighs her down. She _really_ hates shopping, and she hates it more when Dan enforces their "take-turns" rule, especially when it's her turn – it always feels like it's _her_ turn.

She grabs a shopping cart, taking her time to look around the entirety of the store – it's not too impressively big and it's mostly empty of people shopping – before dropping things inside of it.

She's kind of in a daze when she manages to miss the basket while tossing food in, the two boxes of macaroni tumbling to the linoleum floor of the store. The rattling of the hard pasta inside the boxes startles her out of her stupor and she stoops down to quickly collect them, muttering under her breath. Bella pushes the cart down the rest of the aisle, beginning to move into the next, when the frontend of her cart stops suddenly –

"Sorry! I'm sorry," she forces out hurriedly, looking down quickly, her cheeks turning light pink from embarrassment. "I wasn't looking, I didn't mean to—"

When she looks up, Bella's eyes widen considerably as her chocolate irises meet completely unfamiliar set of golden orbs. Instinctively, she takes a step back and shifts her weight so she's in a more defensive position. Simultaneously, one of her hands flies to the part of her hip where she keeps a vial of blood, contained in a small leather pouch attached to her belt, in case of a _surprise_. She becomes acutely aware of her folding knife clipped onto her opposite hip and the handgun strapped firmly to her ankle, under her pant leg.

"No, my apologies," he speaks, his voice deep and smooth. She realizes his position is still relaxed, displaying no outward signs of an intention to attack. "I stepped in your way."

Bella relaxes slightly, but still remains on her toes. Her hand drops closer to her side. "I hit you, so I'm automatically at fault here," she quips, forcing a laugh.

"Please, don't worry about it," he insists. There's a rather awkward pause, his expression shifting to one of intense concentration for the briefest of seconds. "Forgive my manners," he runs a hand through his bronze hair, further mussing up the already disorganized strands that sit on top of his head. "I'm Edward. Do you happen to be new around here?"

"Isabella," she says her name slowly, regarding Edward with reserved suspicion. "How'd you know?"

"Your face is unfamiliar to me."

"I'm guessing this is a town where everyone really does know everyone."

"Something like that, yes," he smiles crookedly, appearing rather boyish in that specific moment. "Also, our generation tends to leave this town after graduating from Forks High School."

"High school?"

He frowns at the incredulousness inflected in her tone. His eyes become intense again – Bella starts to get the inkling that perhaps he is trying to get a good read on her. "Yes. Are you not planning to enroll?"

"I, uh, graduated high school a couple years ago," _and I'm pretty sure you did as well,_ she thinks. Glancing down at her phone's clock, she realizes that Dan will be back soon to pick her up. "Sorry, but I'm running short on time. It was nice meeting you, Edward."

"You too, Isabella."

Bella rushes to the nearest checkout line, ignores the blond boy behind the cash register as he tries with earnest to hit on her, pays for the groceries in cash, and leaves through the same doors she had walked through earlier.

* * *

"I met another one of them today," she tells Dan after they had dropped the groceries off at the house. They're on the outskirts of Forks, in relatively untouched woods, mapping out the area and investigating for any irrefutable signs of the supernatural - most specifically, any sure signs of vampires.

She watches as he whips his head towards her, his hazel eyes wide with a mixture of shock and concern. "You _what_? Where? At the grocery store?"

She nods, turning to analyze a deeply engraved claw mark in the trunk of a tree; after a few seconds, she determines they are just bear marks. "I ran into him. Literally. I would blame myself, but I think he planned that."

"I told you to be careful, you know," Dan admonishes, sighing. "Was it the blond one? I can't remember his name."

"No, not Jasper. His name was Edward. He seemed to know I was new here, and he asked me if I was going to start going to Forks High School soon."

"Interesting," Dan scratches his chin. "I talked to a few people today. One was a police officer and he told me that there are about seven people with golden eyes here, and they all belong to the Cullen family."

"The Cullens," Bella rolls the last name off her tongue thoughtfully, adjusting the strap slung over her shoulder and turning to face Dan. "So far we've met Alice Cullen, Jasper Cullen, and Edward Cullen."

"Yeah, that's three out of seven. Five of them go to the high school, and the other two are older and I guess are the mommy and daddy. He also told me they're 'nice people' but they're kinda off and keep to themselves most of the time."

"It sounds like they're trying to keep up appearances."

"But they're _obviously_ not human!" he throws his hands in the air, his voice rising with a sudden and obvious frustration. He draws back his foot and kicks a rock into low brushes, the sudden rustling of their leaves scaring off a bird. She watches the bird fly away before settling her sympathetic gaze on her hazel-eyed companion. It's at times like these where Bella always realizes just how easy it is to forget how much Dan despises anything to do with vampires – even though she's not _completely_ certain the Cullens are vampires. "What kind of vampires go to high school and hang around grocery stores, you know? They drink blood for fuck's sake."

"Whatever they're hiding, we'll figure it out, Dan," she tells him with confidence, closing the distance between them and lying a comforting hand on his forearm.

"I know. We always get the job done," he smiles brightly at her, his slightly crooked teeth reminding Bella of the boy she grew up with – before tragedy struck and tore apart his life. "They're just monsters and we're the good guys. Good guys always win," she can see the pain hidden behind his smile.

And Bella sometimes wonders how deep his hatred runs for vampires, if the pain he carries has dulled any over the years.

She knows the answer to that – it hasn't. If anything, his hatred for vampires has grown in the few years he's been a full-fledged Hunter.

"Yeah we do. Hopefully your faith in our abilities hasn't wavered already," she tries to lighten the mood and halfheartedly punches him in the shoulder. Out of the corner of her eye, she spots what looks like deer tracks in the soft dirt, and begins to follow them.

He snorts out a brief laugh, rubbing his arm and catching up to her quickly. "Sometimes I worry about your aim, you know."

"Sometimes I wonder if your brain gets enough exercise," she fires back.

"And sometimes I—"

"Dan, look."

They both stop where the tracks magically disappear. Both of their heads swivel around, looking for any continuation of the deer tracks. Chocolate eyes meet hazel, understanding passing between them as they turn towards each other. Dan nods, and Bella slides the bag she's been carrying off her shoulder, fishing out a shovel and digital camera.

* * *

Bella's thumb presses on the forward button, going through the pictures she'd taken of the deer tracks and the immediate surrounding area on the digital camera gripped in her hands. She looks up at Dan, who plops down on the couch beside her with his second beer for the night. His features still look tense from earlier as he watches the television – though Bella knows he's not _really_ watching the television.

She sighs, settling the expensive camera in her lap. She hates that they have to document their evidence, and consequently their kill. "Dan, it's only been a couple of days."

"I know, I know. It just hasn't taken this long for a while," he sighs right back at her. "At least not for the last couple, you know? We've been getting in and out for a while and just…"

"Usually we'd find something big by now."

"Yeah, and deer tracks just don't disappear with no body or blood around," he hangs his head, scratching near his hairline. "I mean, but vampires don't hunt deer either."

Bella lays a hand on his knee. "Dan, I know you're frustrated," she starts. "But let's stick to the Basics for this one, at least for a while, okay? Assume nothing, be suspicious of everything. Seems like we really don't know what we're dealing with here. Yet."

He looks at her, his annoyance clear in his expression. "Bella, I know they're vampires. They have to be. Remember what that creep told us?"

She pinches the bridge of her nose, feeling her own stubbornness inch its way into her voice. "No, no you don't. You don't know what they are and neither do I. And apparently, she didn't even know what she was talking about. This isn't what we expected – we haven't even found traces of werewolves. We need to go by the Book on this one and stick to the Basics."

"You think you can call all the shots?" Dan challenges. He takes a swig of his beer and then smiles a genuine smile, slightly confusing her. "Well okay, Bossy Bella, we'll take it slow," he drags out the last word, his already deep baritone dipping even deeper. "But in the end, I get to say I told ya so."

"Thank you," Bella pats his knee before standing up, and heads upstairs to get ready for bed.


	7. Chapter 6: Alice

Chapter 6

When Bella wakes she does so with a slight start, her eyes darting quickly around the room. Her heart beats hard in her chest for a few moments before calming to a steady pace. She sits up, the sheets of her bed pooling around her waist. She shakes her head, ridding herself of the remnants of the nightmare – Dan was not becoming a vampire.

The light streaming through her window is grey but bright; she assumes it's going to be another cloudy day. She glances at her phone, its clock informing her it's fifteen minutes before eleven in the morning and she wonders why Dan let her sleep in "late."

Yawning, she runs her fingers through her chestnut brown hair and slides out of the warmness of her bed. The first few steps she takes to her bedroom door are tentative, the cold hardwood unpleasantly cold to the bottoms of her feet. She descends the stairs, rounding the corner into the kitchen. She expects to find Dan raiding the fridge, but instead she spots a blue sticky note sitting on the white counter.

Bella peels the sticky note off the counter, Dan's sloppy handwriting inscribed on it telling her that he'd went out for an early morning run when she was still in her third gear of sleep and was planning on exploring the town a little more on his own. He'd taken the truck, and reminded her that the motorcycle was in the tiny shed in the back should she want to leave the house. It ends with him instructing her to be careful.

She blinks and then scoffs a bit at him telling her to be careful; a lot of the time, she feels he needs to take his own advice, but she realizes and understands that it's just an outward manifestation of his protective nature. Nonetheless, she appreciates the sentiment.

She sets the note down. She reaches into the cabinets for coffee. After preparing her much needed caffeinated beverage she and turns to head back up the stairs for a hot shower.

It's not until a few hours later, after she's showered, downed some coffee, and consumed food does Bella make the decision to leave the house. She leaves a note for Dan, in case he should return to the house and she was not there, explaining that she was going to explore the woodland closer to their house. She gathers her gear, which includes a pistol strapped to her ankle and a folding knife clipped to her belt, and a vial of blood – around the clock preparedness comes with being a Hunter.

She exits the house through the backdoor to avoid drawing any unwanted suspicion from anyone who may be closer to the street.

The smell of the plants hits her, and gets stronger the further her feet take her into the forest. Her shoes crunch over the mixture of dirt, small branches, and leaves on the ground. She relishes in the quietness all around her. Despite loving the nature that engulfs all of her five senses, she does not become overly immersed, still actively maintaining her duties; she examines the area for possible signs of the supernatural.

Bella comes across several different sets of tracks – most of them are much too small to be anything of importance, and she deduces that they probably belong to either squirrels or rabbits. She also discovers bird remains, the bones obviously much too small to belong to a human or other large animal.

Just as Bella begins to grow tired with tracking, she comes across a clearing in the woods. The grass appears a more brilliant green than it does in the rest of the forest, and the sun beams down from behind the ever-lasting blanket of clouds, brighter than it does on the rest of Forks. There are flowers of varying colors growing in random patches amongst the grass, looking out of place but in the correct place at the same time.

This little spot seems to have a bit of a magic touch. It draws Bella in, and before the brown haired young woman knows it, she finds herself in the middle of the clearing with her hands slightly outstretched at her sides. A small breeze caresses her face, toys with the free flowing strands of her hair. She pushes a deep breath through her nose, a feeling of peace falling over her very being…

Until a feminine melodic voice sounds from behind her, "Beautiful, isn't it?"

On a reflex that she's developed and been utilizing since her early teen years, Bella firmly plants a foot and pivots so her body faces the direction of the vaguely familiar voice. Her hand has already pulled the knife from its usual place on her black leather belt, her thumb pushing on the lever on the handle, releasing the five inch serrated blade with a sharp click that seems to resound in the otherwise quiet clearing. She holds the knife securely in front of her, just above waist level. She reminds herself of the vial of blood tucked away in a pouch on her hip, should she need it.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, her inner voice chastises her for letting someone sneak up on her so easily. _That could have been your end, Swan._

Bella watches as golden eyes look pointedly down at the tip of her folding knife before meeting her eyes again. She takes a few seconds to take in the features of the person in front of her: fashionably spiky hair, the small but pointed nose, the intensely red thin lips, the girl's overall short stature…

She recognizes the girl standing approximately ten feet from her instantly as _Alice Cullen_.

For some unfathomable reason, the beginning signs of a flush begin to creep up Bella's neck, and suddenly Bella feels silly for holding the knife so threateningly in between them. She lowers her hand somewhat, loosening the death-grip she had on the knife's handle. Some of the tension eases from her muscles, but her cautious nature instilled in her very being as a Hunter has her still on guarded alert.

"Um, hi," Bella offers by way of greeting – she's kind of forgotten what Alice has said.

An easy smile comes to Alice's face, and a giggle emits from her lips despite the small girl's own tensed shoulders. "I hope the terribly fast paced life of Forks, Washington doesn't have you _too_ stressed out."

It takes a few long seconds for Bella to realize the joking quality laced in the other girl's voice before she feels a half smile curling up the sides of her lips. A tiny laugh escapes her, "No, no," she lowers the knife a little more. "I'm just not exactly a fan of surprises."

"I see," a look of amusement flits across her face. "And speaking of Forks, how are you liking it so far?"

"It's quiet," Bella states the obvious. "I haven't seen a lot of people, but those that I've talked to have been, uh, _friendly_."

Alice giggles and takes a couple steps towards Bella. "I'll take that as a compliment."

"You're welcome?"

Already, a lull presents itself in the conversation. Chocolate eyes are locked onto golden – Bella is not sure if her brain is playing tricks on her, but it seems as though Alice's eyes are slightly darker than what she remembers.

"I just want to let you know that I don't bite."

 _Bite_.

Her grip on the knife's handled tightened, her feet taking a defensive step back. "What?"

"I'm not going to hurt you. I promise," she says softly. She raises both of her hands in a placating gesture. The raven-haired girl's eyes dip down once more to the knife wrapped in Bella's hand.

Bella has a sudden urge to tell her to stop acting human – to ask what exactly she is.

But she doesn't.

After another pause, and despite her inner voice telling her that she can't trust the girl, Bella tucks the blade of the knife back into the handle. She clips it back onto its usual place on her belt. "Sorry," she mumbles. "I know it's not socially acceptable to draw knives on people," she attempts at a lighthearted joke even though she still remains on edge.

Alice raises an elegant dark eyebrow as if to say _You think?_

Bella changes tactics, going for the straight forward approach, and decides to ask what she has been wondering since the very beginning of this interaction, "What are you doing out here?"

"I could ask you the same thing. Not very many people stand out in clearings in the middle of the forest, no matter how majestic the clearing happens to be."

"So you're one of the few that do?"

"Yes. I am," Alice sighs dreamily, gesturing to the wild greenery that surrounds them both. "It's so calming. Peaceful. Beautiful. This is my favorite spot to just come and be one with nature," she giggles fondly and the sound is music to Bella's ears. "I'm sorry. I'm being quite silly, aren't I?"

"Not at all," Bella assures her, giving the slightly shorter girl a small but genuine smile of her own. "Not very many untouched and natural places remain in the world anymore. It's like finding a diamond in the rough, so I understand where you're coming from."

Alice's eyes light up. "I'm glad you agree," her expression then slips into a frown and she crosses her arms across her chest, looking too much like a petulant child. "But now I have to share it with you."

Bella can't help but to laugh heartily – the other girl appears so harmless, almost _cute_ , with her partially scrunched up button nose, and her full but playfully turned down red lips. "Hopefully it won't be too bad. I don't stink, so that's a good start."

"No, you most certainly do—"

Alice cuts herself off, her breath catching in her throat, her entire body going rigid.

"Hello?" Bella questions, staring into glazed over golden eyes. She waves her hand, but the girl's eyes don't follow the movement. "Alice? Are you okay?"

Bella's hands are hovering over her knife and the pouch containing the vial of blood when Alice snaps out of whatever trance she'd fallen into.

"Are you o—"

"I'm terribly sorry, but I have to go!" The raven-haired girl pushes the words past her lips in a rush and then turns around on a heel, running just a little too fast into the thick of the forest.

"Wait," Bella calls after her. She takes a few hurried steps after the fleeing girl, but as her small form completely disappears into the greenery, she realizes the futility of chasing after her and stops in her tracks. She sighs loudly into the silence of the clearing.

Her head tilts up to look at the sky, her eyes squinting when the sun breaks through the endless blanket of grey clouds that always seem to hang around Forks.

* * *

Back at the house, Bella finds that her note to Dan has gone untouched – he has not been back since she's been gone. A dose of worry flutters through her, but she casts it aside as she dashes up the stairs because she always _just_ _knows_ when Dan runs into trouble, and now does not appear to be one of those times.

When she enters her room, she goes straight for her closet. On the floor of the cramped space are a few boxes, and she rummages through them until the tips of her fingers hit the object she's looking for. She pulls it out of its cardboard confine.

The Book.

Her eyes roam over the worn brown cover of the Book, her hands tracing the lettering. The Book of the Hunter. Bella's palm settles over the collection of insignias that represent the different family lineages under the title. The book emits a faint yellow glow, granting her access, before she opens it to the table of contents. She uses a finger to skim over the sections under the specific heading _The Supernaturals_. When she gets to the end of the list, she blanches a little because she realizes she doesn't really know where to start.

That's when she decides to just start from the top, going through each and every creature until she can find one that fits the profile of Alice Cullen and her family – or, because she still needs more information most likely, so she can know exactly what to look for.

She gets all the way through _Creatures of the Realm and Light_ and halfway through _Creatures of the Night_ before she gives in to a bout of curiosity and skips to the two pages in the book dedicated to the topic of vampires.

She read over the definitive signs of a person being a vampire – pale skin, ethereal beauty, cold to the touch (the same approximate temperature as if one touches a body that has been dead for hours).

She only considers the signs that are actually applicable to Alice Cullen and her family, which seemed to be less than half, before moving on to the more conditional signs. She sighs heavily – none of them are applicable, and two parts of her are both grateful and anxious.

Not even the most universal signs of a vampire were present: red eyes and the actual act of feeding on a human's blood. Bella feels silly for even skipping to this page, feels as though, like Dan, she is giving into assumptions and coming to incomplete conclusions.

Not that she can blame him, really; they came here expecting a war between vampires and werewolves, while the human population around them remains left in the dark.

She closes the book, it shutting with a dull thud. She has to keep an open mind – what happens if she and Dan are dealing with something more than a coven of vampires, whom they're not sure are even vampires? Knowing is half the battle, and assumptions don't help any – they usually get people hurt and killed. She's seen it firsthand.

So there has to be a way to weed more useful information out of the people of the town, the surrounding area, and the Cullens themselves…

Her ears pick up the front door opening and closing, some shuffling around, and then Dan's voice as he calls to her, "Bella? You here?"

"Yeah," she calls back to him, sliding the book underneath her bed. She leaves her bedroom, descends the stairs, and rounds the corner into the kitchen.

Dan looks up from reading the note she had left him earlier in the day. "You went out," he says, crumpling up the paper and tossing it in the trash. "Find anything?"

"Alice," her name slips from Bella's lips before she can really stop it.

He bristles immediately, his hazel eyes narrowing. "What?"

"I saw Alice. Or rather, she found me."

"Where?"

"I went into the woods around the house and came across a clearing. She was there too," she catches Dan opening his mouth to say something. "Nothing happened. I'm fine as you can see. We talked but I didn't find anything useful out."

A muscle in his jaw begins working, and he turns as if he's about to begin pacing, but stays glued to his spot close to the counter. "She could have killed you," he runs a hand through his hair. "I know I'm thinking worst case here, but it's weird, you know? It seems like more than a coincidence... Like she tracked you or something."

"Of course," Bella agrees, and she pauses for a brief moment at the look of confusion that comes across Dan's face. "She knows where we live."

His expression darkens considerably. "You think they're keeping tabs on us?"

"I wouldn't doubt it. Though I wouldn't go assuming they know what and who we are – just like we're not completely certain we know what they are."

"Right," he says. "You know, I feel like this is just building my case that they're vampires."

"Dan—"

"I know what you're gonna say," he interrupts, his tone giving away that he's slightly annoyed. "I just want to say this; whatever they are – vampires, I'm sure - they already know something is up. We're going to have to be more efficient than we usually are."

"The faster we know what we're dealing with, the better," Bella says, agreeing with him. _Knowledge is half the battle_.

He nods. A silence falls over the kitchen before Dan speaks again, "I talked to that same police officer today, you know. I told him we were safety conscious. He offered to let us come by the station tomorrow morning to talk about any safety concerns."

It's good news, but Bella can't stop the small smirk that comes across her face. "I'm guessing I can't sleep in late then?"

"Nope. You're coming with me for this one."

 **A/N: Thanks, you guys. :)**


	8. Chapter 7: Chased

**A/N: Thanks for the favorites, follows, and reviews guys. ^.^ Things start to pick up more here**

Chapter 7 **  
**

Bella has no concrete reason why, but she had originally thought that the police headquarters of Forks was going to be bigger. As she steps through the somewhat beaten and weather-worn door after Dan and the officer – Officer Lankin – into a room that just has a desk with a single receptionist behind it, she reasons that every time she had been inside a police station she also had been in a big city.

But when Officer Lankin takes the both of them through a second door that unlocks only after he punches in a code on the omnilock, and gives them the quickest tour of a facility she's ever had and probably ever will have, she starts to have some doubt that they will find anything useful here. She can't help but think that the biggest case this department most likely has on recent file is domestic disturbance – at that, probably just a husband and wife having some sort of argument over who let the dog crap in the house.

"As you can see, we're not working with much space here," the officer comments rather flippantly, leading them into the last room, where there is one other officer seated at a small rectangular table. "And we're not completely with the times either. We only have one computer," he points to the modern-looking desktop sitting off on the tiniest desk in the corner of the room.

"It's something, you know?" Dan shrugs, smiling politely, doing his best to sympathize with them.

"Hey, we have two computers if you count the one the receptionist uses," the other officer chuckles good naturedly.

"If you want to get technical, sure," Officer Lankin claps the younger looking officer on the shoulder. "Also, Isabella and Daniel, this is Peters."

"How do you do?" Officer Peters greets the duo with a warm smile.

"We're doing okay. Thank you," Bella smiles back.

Dan clears his throat. "Yeah, we just had some safety concerns is all."

"Oh?" Officer Peters raises a brow. "Anything happen to raise your concerns?"

Before either Dan or Bella can answer, Officer Lankin does for them. "They're just safety conscious. It's a pretty hard thing to find at their age, so I decided to just bring them down here so they can see and hear things for themselves."

"Nothing much happens around here," Peters shrugs, and goes to sip from his thermos. "Especially not recently."

"There was a call the other night about some kind of domestic dispute," Officer Lankin supplies, scratching his greying mustache before crossing his arms over his chest. "Was it you or Jameson that went to that one?"

"Jameson. He said it was just a teenage couple arguing over something while one of their parents were out. All he did was separate them until they cooled off. Not too bad."

Bella forces herself not to roll her eyes – did she not guess it?

"So nothing's serious happened, let's say, in the past couple of weeks?" Dan questions. He slides his hands into his pockets, shrugging as nonchalantly as he can manage – he's actually pretty convincing. Bella follows his lead.

There's a brief silence; Bella and Dan watch as both the officers share a look between one another.

"Well," Officer Peters drags the word out. He takes another sip from his thermos and looks to Officer Lankin.

Officer Lankin shuffles a bit, moving his feet but otherwise staying in his same standing spot on the floor. His hands drop to his belt. "Last week a young woman who went missing out of Port Angeles was found dead just a couple miles out of here."

" _Dead_? What happened?"

"Ah, that's the question," Peters frowns, shrugging his broad shoulders. "All we know for certain is that she went missing four days before Lankin and another officer found her body last week," he pauses, taking yet another sip from his drink. He then wrinkles his nose as if he'd just smelled something revolting. "Really weird nasty shit too – excuse my language. She looked like she'd been severely sexually assaulted. There wasn't a drop of blood in her body either."

Bella and Dan turn wide eyes to each other. This time it's Bella that poses a question, "How is that even possible?" She knows what she and Dan are both thinking – can't help but to think right now – _vampires_.

"Beats us right now," Officer Lankin sighs. "There were several bite marks on the victim. The killing one looks to be a particularly nasty bite that left a deep gash on her neck. The other bites looked pretty bad though, so it could have been just the blood loss that did her in."

"We had Port Angeles do a rape kit on the body. She'd been raped, yeah, but the DNA was flawed or something. One of the lab techs said it was like human DNA but not quite right," Peters says. "I don't know what that means. Incomplete sample I'm guessing."

"Wow, that's completely insane."

"Unreal," Peters agrees. "But other than that, nada."

"We would show you guys pictures, but the case is still open and they're on the gruesome side."

A brief silence falls over the room. Dan and Bella thank the officers, to which they tell them it's no problem and to stay safe, and leave the police station.

* * *

"I'm just saying, Bella."

"You don't know that! We don't even know if they're actually vampires," Bella crosses her arms across her chest and drums one set of fingertips on the opposite forearm.

She glares at Dan harder as he sends an incredulous glance her way, his grip tightening on the steering wheel. "What? Are you kidding me? She had bite marks and no blood in her body. You know, it sounds like there's a vampire in the area to _me_."

"Oh, so seven vampires feasted on one girl?"

"Vampires are fucking freaks. You know that," he grunts as he pulls into the driveway.

Bella snorts as she gets out the car, slamming the door closed hard. The truck creaks quietly in protest, and Bella would have felt slightly bad if she had not been too preoccupied with controlling her growing anger. "I'm still not entirely convinced."

"Evidence is evidence. Can't just ignore it," Dan retorts, slamming his door as well. Bella watches as he clenches his fists at his sides, a vein in his neck beginning to pop out. "What the hell is wrong with you? You want to wait until seven, fourteen, twenty-one people die before actually doing something about it? We came here to stop this."

"Okay, so let's say they're confirmed vampires. There's seven of them and two of us. Do you honestly think killing all of them is going to be easy? That they're not going to retaliate?"

"We'll think of something," he fires back hotly, his voice lowering in volume. He glances around, as if just realizing that they are arguing about killing vampires _outside_.

Bella scoffs at his childishness. She walks over the black motorcycle also parked in the small driveway, and takes the helmet off the handlebars, slipping it over her head. She pulls a set of keys from her jacket pocket.

"Where are you going?" Dan snaps.

She slips a leg over the bike before answering coolly. "To go get my coffee, since you drove right past the store."

"Whoops! I'm sorry Boss Bella for being more concerned about the safety of the people here than your coffee," his tone drips with sarcasm.

"Fuck off, Dan."

She starts the motorcycle and backs out the driveway. When she's in the street, she revs the engine once before taking off and speeding down the street. She's pretty sure she's going double the posted speed limit, but she doesn't really care – she doubts the cops would actually take the time to pull her over and write her a ticket and summons to court anyway.

The wind makes the tails of both her jacket and shirt flap wildly behind her, and she likes the breeze that she can feel on the exposed skin of her lower back. The coolness of it takes away some of the heat that her anger at Dan had brought on. She can still feel it just underneath her skin though, the combined anger and frustration.

That Dan … he knows just what to say to get under her skin.

Sometimes she just does not understand how he can just flippantly say the things he does. Of course she cares about innocent people being tortured and slaughtered by the hands of twisted supernatural beings. But she refuses to let her distaste for how a lot of them create entertainment for themselves cloud her judgment. She can't just rush in, largely unprepared. She can't just shoot first and ask questions later. She's made that mistake before, and she can't dare make it again. The emotional and mental aching in the aftermath hurts too much to just carelessly make that mistake again.

Bella understands Dan though. His deep-seated hatred for vampires is not without valid reason – after all, his own father was slaughtered by his turned brother right before his young eyes. She can't exactly blame him for letting that seed of hatred manifest over time, becoming a part of him and sometimes getting in the way of objective and logical reasoning. She respects him as well; she respects and admires the fact that he has so much drive…

She turns a corner, immediately finding a parking space in front of the grocery store. She cuts the bike's engine, pulling the helmet off her head, her brown hair falling down from where parts of it had been constricted by the hard plastic.

But sometimes, she thinks darkly as she dismounts the bike and heads into the double-door entrance of the store, Dan is just an asshole.

Once inside the building, she casts thoughts about Dan and vampires and slaying vampires aside in favor of searching for the aisle that houses the coffee. When she spots it – rather quickly, actually, perhaps a new record even for her – she preoccupies herself with choosing a brand and flavor.

For a smaller store, Bella is surprised at the varying selection of coffee. They seemed to have all of her favorites in stock. She barely admits to herself that she feels giddy when she begins struggling to make choices among her top six picks. And then four. Long minutes pass, and she eventually decides to just buy her top two picks, hesitating only a little when she realizes that she's acting a little greedy.

But it's coffee. So it's okay for her to indulge.

Humans do it all the time.

Bella heads for the direction of the checkout line, selections of coffee in hand, when she bumps into something – someone – cold and somewhat unyielding.

"I'm sor—" Bella starts to apologize, but a strong wave of déjà vu sweeps away the rest of it. Except this time, it's not exactly Edward she has bumped into; instead of a boy it's a girl; instead of having to look up, Bella looks down slightly; instead of unkempt bronze hair, there is a head full of ink black spikes.

There are golden eyes framed by thick eyelashes staring at her.

"Hello, Isabella," Alice Cullen smiles fondly at her. "I didn't expect to see you here. Are you getting groceries as well?"

"Yeah, me neither, um, no, not exactly," Bella answers lamely. She holds the boxes of coffee up pointedly, feeling flustered and hot in her face but not exactly figuring out why.

Alice giggles and some part of Bella relishes in the sound. "I guess technically you are? It's not really my thing, but sometimes I run errands for Esme – my mom."

"That's nice of you," Bella says genuinely, thinking about how she does enough grocery errands for Dan as it is. "I hate doing it so much that I'm itching to get out of this store," she panics slightly because the words just kind of poured out of her mouth, and hearing them spoken makes her sound as though she's hitting Alice. _Hitting on a suspected vampire? Get it together, Swan,_ her inner voice chimes in.

"That's funny, because so was I."

"Coincidence?" she continues her way to the checkout, Alice falling into step beside her.

The pixie-like girl sends a wink her way, smiling slyly. "You could say that."

Bella blanches, torn between something from deep within her chest telling her that this beautiful creature just flirted with her and a pang of panic that tells her this could be a veiled threat, and to be mindful of her knife and vial of blood should she need to use them.

For some reason, as the cashier scans both her and Alice's items, she hopes it was just harmless flirtation.

"So how many of you am I going to meet here?" again, as the cool air greets both Bella and Alice when they step outside, the words just fall from Bella's lips. "I met your brother, Edward here. And now you're here."

A small smirk plays on Alice's red lips, "How many do you think?"

"All seven of you?" Bella answers quickly. Her eyes widen – none of the Cullens she's met so far have told her how many of them are in their family, so _technically_ she is not supposed to know.

"You've been talking to the people here, then?"

Alice is still smirking up at her, mirth hidden in the golden depths of her eyes. Bella doesn't answer.

Alice then hums. "You'll meet all of us eventually," she states with cool confidence, almost as if she's already seen it happen. "But just be warned I'm the most amazing out of us all."

"Oh. Are you really?"

"I sure am," the short girl moves so that's she now in front of Bella, walking backwards gracefully and putting more emphasis on the swaying of her petite hips. "Just take a gander!"

Brown eyes take the lighthearted command seriously, taking in the beautiful and delicate features of Alice's face, and then passing-over none too quickly over her assets. She can't help but notice the seemingly perfect shape of her breasts, the perkiness of her butt. The redness of a blush creeps onto her cheeks as she catches herself staring. Bella forces herself not to meet Alice's golden eyes, to look somewhere over to her left side.

"Are you also the shortest?" the taller girl manages to pull out a joke. _What are you doing, Swan?_ Bella's inner voice chides her. _If you're going to make conversation, you should at least find out more relevant information about her and her mystery of a family._

Alice's expression darkens just a tad, and Bella has trouble determining if it's out of playfulness or not. "Yes, I am. You're not much taller than me, so I think you're in the same boat in your household," she turns back around, falling into step with Bella again. "You have a very nice motorcycle, by the way."

The brunette smiles at her as they reach the black motorcycle. "Thank you," she says, moving to slip the bag of coffee into the compact storage space attached behind the seat of the bike. _Capitalize on this opportunity,_ her inner voice demands. "So," Bella starts, leaning on the bike as gracefully as she can possibly manage. "I'm just wondering, do all of you have golden eyes?"

If Alice has noticed the subtle shift in conversation, her knowledge is not given away by her voice nor her body language. "Yes, even though we're not all related."

"You're not?"

"No. We're adopted."

Bella does not miss the slight narrowing of Alice's eyes, and for good reason she's half expecting the other girl to go completely still and then bolt on her again. "And you all have the same eye color."

"Just a coincidence of sorts," Alice answers nonchalantly, with a minor shrug of her small shoulders.

"Same skin tone?"

"Yes," golden eyes narrow further, but there's still a certain playfulness to her musical voice. "Are we playing twenty questions now?"

"No, no, sorry. I'm just interested in your family. And you." _Smooth_.

"Are you?" Alice's fingers reach out to brush the forearm part of the sleeve of her jacket. "Can I ask you a question?"

Gulping from the tingles that erupt on her skin from the touch, even though Alice had only really touched her jacket, Bella nods, "Um, sure."

"What if I invited you to our house for dinner, say, tomorrow night?"

"What?" the brunette deadpans. "You're inviting me over for dinner? We barely know each other."

"That is true. But I can tell we're going to get to know each other very well," Alice agrees with her, giggling as if she were amused at a joke that somehow Bella had missed. "The invitation is extended to Daniel, as well."

"Okay, I'll let him know."

"Is that a yes?"

"Yeah, uh, sure. Yes it is," Bella stammers.

"Great!" Alice beams up at her, and before she can even catch herself, Bella thinks she looks beautiful with her dimples in her cheeks and her perfect teeth gleaming. "I have to go, though. Esme would have expected me back at the house by now. See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sure."

* * *

Bella's head still reels as she walks through completely unfamiliar forest, replaying her conversation with Alice from earlier. She's still not sure how Alice managed to slip the invitation to dinner so casually into their conversation. And she still cannot wrap her head around the fact that she'd just accepted going to dinner in a house full of seven suspected vampires.

To think relatively clearly, she decided to keep driving by the house on her motorcycle. She could not deal with Dan at the present. She kept driving until she passed a sign that denoted the new territory as some reservation (she had not read it comprehensively enough) and the woodland by the road seemed so refreshing and natural so she'd decided to go for a bit of a walk.

She swats at a low lying branch of a tree. Frustration wells within her – it had been so foolish to readily accept the invitation. She did not dedicate enough proper thought to preparing an answer. At the time, it was almost as if she'd forgot who Alice was; essentially, the enemy. It seems as if the shorter girl had worked some kind of spell on Bella that made her defenseless, flustered, rendered unable to really say no. What kind of trickery did the girl have up her sleeve? This dinner could be some kind of trap. What if they decided to torture her and Dan? What happens if they kidnap and then kill both her and Dan?

Then there is Dan himself – she has to convince him to go with her. While he is not the most tactful Hunter of the two of them, he isn't exactly the kind of stupid to willingly walk into a house full of what he is convinced are vampires. And she can't exactly _not_ go, but, then again, she would not feel comfortable showing up at the Cullen's doorstep (not that she really knows where it is, anyway) all by her lonesome…

So why exactly did she accept going to a house full of suspected vampires on both her and Dan's behalf?

 _Because of Alice_ , she reasons. Her heart gives some sort of odd flutter in her chest. In that moment, if she could rip the treacherous thing out and scold it, she most certainly would have. Sure, the pixie-like girl is beautiful, charming, witty, and…

Bella's train of thought crashes abruptly, her own footsteps halting over the ground of the forest as she hears a branch crunch from behind her.

Turning quickly on her heel, she scans the area carefully. As she begins to spin back around, that's when she sees it – a dark brown blur closing in unbelievably fast from her right. Her reflexes succeed in saving her from being barreled over, but something sharp just manages to catch her arm, slicing the skin from her wrist to her elbow. The blood bubbles up and seeps from the fresh wound almost immediately. She feels the scarlet liquid run down her arm. Barely casting a glance at it, she turns her full attention to the huge –

 _Wolf?!_ her subconscious screams.

Her first guess is that she's being attacked by a werewolf, but as the wolf uses its claws to stop sliding in the dirt and regains its footing, Bella second guesses herself. Werewolves have a tendency to rear up on their hind legs because their wolf forms are more of a cross between human and wolf – and this particular wolf remains crouched low on all fours. It snarls viciously at her, the tips of one side of its set of sharp teeth stained red with her blood. She makes eye contact with it, quickly assessing that the irises are yellow and not silver; silver being another telltale sign of a werewolf. She also notices the fur around its face is lighter than the rest of its fur.

But the thing is fucking _massive_ – about the size of a full grown horse, if not a bit bigger. While not a werewolf, there's no way it could be just a natural creature. She's sure of it.

One of her hands reach for the pouch that houses the vial of blood, nimbly opens it, and then she drinks the metallic tasting liquid. Her body jolts as the vampire blood metabolizes into her own bloodstream rapidly. She can feel her senses sharpen: her eyesight enhances sharply, her hearing picks up the heartbeat of the wolf. A newfound strength settles in her muscles and the blood on her tongue tastes just a bit sweeter. The gash in her forearm begins to heal.

The wolf lunges at her again, all teeth and claws. However, this time, its movement is easier for her eyes to track. Swiftly side stepping its attack, Bella pulls back her non-healing arm and cracks the wolf with her elbow just over its eye. It releases a loud whine at the snap that echoes – the sound of the bone there probably fracturing – and stumbles a few feet away from Bella.

Blood flows freely downward from the cut that opens above its eye as well. She observes the cut pulling itself together slowly. It's healing, she realizes.

This wolf is most definitely something supernatural.

"Hey!" she decides to call out to it. She watches as the recognition of speech flickers in the depths of its yellow eyes. "I don't want to hurt you, but you're going to have to stop attacking me first."

A large paw lifts and then slams into the dirt. The wolf growls low in its throat, its entire frame shaking with the intense vibrations, as if to say no.

Bella tries again, "I know you understand me," she declares assertively. "Whatever or whoever you think I am, I'm not it. I swear."

Another growl sounds from behind Bella. Turning her head so that she can see over her shoulder, she spots another wolf – predominantly brown, with other colors mixed in, and just as big as the one in front of her. They start circling her, snarling and gnashing their teeth as they do so. Bella braces herself.

"Again, I don't want to hurt you but I _will_ defend myself," she calls out to the both of them in a last ditch effort of warning.

Snarls that seem to shake the surrounding trees emit from both the circling wolves before they attack. The chocolate brown wolf lunges for her head, and she ducks to avoid its sharp canines. She anticipates the other wolf to do the same, and she prepares to deliver a counter attack, but it sidesteps her, crouching low, and clamps its powerful jaws down on her shin. Her eyes widen as its teeth sink through her pants leg, into her skin, and giving a forceful yank, pulls her down onto her back. She hits the ground hard and air roughly expels from her lungs.

She barely has time to catch her breath before the wolf pins her body from above and descends upon her throat, maw snapping wildly and actively trying to tear into her jugular. Scrambling, she fends off its snapping jaws with repeated weak punches to its oversized snout.

One good punch throws the beast on top of her off balance just enough for Bella to reach down by her hip, grab her knife, extend the blade, and drive it into a foreleg of the wolf. The knife sinks to the hilt, through thick fur into its flesh, tearing open muscle. A pained howl tears from its throat. Warm blood spurts onto Bella's face as she pushes it off with a grunt of exertion.

The other wolf makes to pounce on top of her before she gets to her feet, and she rolls out of the way in time. Just as she shakily stands up again on her injured but healing shin, the chocolate wolf makes to bite her. It narrowly misses the soft flesh of her belly; she draws a fist back and delivers a hurried sloppy counterstrike to its muzzle, her knuckle splitting open where the wolf's teeth hits her skin. It stumbles but recovers quickly and again tries to catch a part of Bella between its teeth. She lands a much cleaner, stronger blow to the same spot and sends it back stumbling a few feet away from her.

Quickly shifting her attention to the brown mixed wolf, she watches as it pulls the knife from its foreleg and tosses it onto the ground. As some of the tissue steadily begins to mend together, it advances on Bella.

And then she hears more howls not so far in the distance, followed by thundering steps.

There's no way in hell she could fend off any more of them – so she makes the quick-witted decision to turn on her heels and run.

With the vampire blood still pumping relatively strong in her veins, her legs carry her so fast through the forest that her surroundings become a blur of green and brown. She can hear the wolves not too far behind her, snapping at her heels – more than two now, but she's not quite sure just how many, and she's not exactly willing to slow down and count them either.

She's not sure exactly how long she's been running from these over-sized wolves for – she has already jumped over a couple streams, weaved between countless trees, and dodged a few boulders, but she can feel the beginnings of the burn in her legs. There's more howls in the distance then, and she casts a quick glance over her shoulder – are more of them seriously joining the chase? She can only outrun the wolves for so long; the vampire blood is starting to slowly drain but surely from her system, and she doesn't have another vial.

 _No_ , her inner voice answers her fretted question. _That's Dan being chased by them too._

Bella takes another fleeting glance over her shoulder, and low and behold, Dan is running not too far behind her, in the same direction, being chased by another group of horse-sized wolves. Her eyes widen. What was he doing out—?

Her steps stutter and slow just enough that one of the wolves gets a part of her jacket trapped between its teeth. She wriggles free of her jacket before the others can get a hold on her, but she trips and tumbles to the ground in the process. She rolls across the forest floor a few yards.

 _You probably just made your last mistake, Swan._

She uses the momentum from her fall to roll to her feet, spinning around before the attacks come, preparing to defend herself as best as she could from a multitude of snapping jaws. She'd try her damn best to survive.

Yet she does not have to even try; a few feet from where she had fallen, the wolves stand in a horizontal line, the differences in their furs made even more apparent. Collectively, they snarl savagely, snap their powerful maws, gnash their sharp teeth, stomp their paws into the dirt, but they do not advance on her; it's almost as if they're trapped behind some invisible wall that they're unable to pass through.

Dropping her hands from her combat-ready position, she stares in awe.

She still hears extremely fast footsteps from behind the stopped wolves in front of her; and then Dan jumps over the line of wolves at the invisible wall, over Bella, and lands not too far away from where she's standing. She hears him groan lowly in pain. Taking another glance at the pack of wolves all growling, she runs over to his hunched over, panting, hands-on-knees form.

"Dan?" she questions, and when he looks up at the sound of his name, hazel eyes wide with confusion, she can't help but ask. "What the fuck is going on?"


	9. Chapter 8: The Big Dogs

**A/N: Dan and Bella meet the wolves of La Push...**

Chapter 8

Dan rises from his hunched over position, his chest still rising and falling rapidly. Running a hand through the short black strands of his hair, he shifts his glance to the wolves and then back to Bella. He's hyped up on vampire blood too, she realizes, even though she could have easily guessed that with the Olympic jump he'd pulled off not too long ago.

Bella notices for the first time that he looks like something – a wolf or two, or several – mauled him. His clothes are torn, his long sleeve shirt nothing more than a few strips of cotton across the upper half of his body. There's blood on the side of his head, running down from his temple into the neckline of his tattered shirt. Blood has also soaked into his clothing as well, and she can see some of it drying on his skin where his clothes are torn.

"Wha—" Dan starts, breathing through his nose. He shakes his head, glancing to the wolves again. "Why are you out here?"

Bella turns her head to look at the wolves now also. A solid black wolf makes calm eye contact with her, yellow eyes boring into her dark brown. She watches as it then shifts its intense stare to the other wolves – they begin to settle down. Turning back to Dan, she deadpans. "I was just taking a quiet little stroll," she's unable to keep the sarcasm from tainting the tone of her voice. "And then I made some friends. Why the hell are _you_ out here?"

He ignores both her sarcasm and her question. "Let's not, um, do this here, you know?"

With the vampire blood and her adrenaline from her close encounter still thrumming relatively strongly through her veins, she's so very tempted to snap at him, but barely manages to bite her tongue. She lets him guide her away from the wolves. She can feel the black wolf's heavy stare on her back (she refuses to let herself look back) until they walk well out of sight of the wolves.

"So," Dan breaks the tense silence that descends between them. "Out for a stroll, huh?"

"Yeah, that's it," she shrugs.

He takes in her appearance, no doubt assessing the blood covering her knuckles, one of her arms, splattered across her face; no doubt noticing she's without her jacket, and has a large tear on the bottom of her pants leg. "Looks like the stroll kicked your ass."

Bella rolls her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. "As if you look so much better, right?" she quips. "You never answered my question."

"It's a long story."

"A long story," she repeats his answer in a bored tone. "You only say that when you—" Bella cuts herself off. Anger flashes hot across her face, heightened by the supernatural blood flowing through her, and then she rounds on Dan "Wait, did you know about _them_?"

"Kind of—"

"What! What the fuck, Dan?" shocked, she can't keep herself from screaming at him, the anger tightening its grip around her. Her heart beats hard in her chest, as if it wants to strangle the fucker as much as her fingers are itching to do. "You knew there were house-sized wolves lurking around here and you didn't think to share that tidbit with me? In case you couldn't tell I was almost killed by them!"

"Hey!" he yells, his fists curling up at his sides. He sighs then, rubbing his neck. "Just let me finish, alright? It's not as bad as it sounds."

Bella glares at him.

"Wow, if looks could fucking kill," he mumbles.

"I heard that."

"Good," he snorts. Before she can open her mouth, Dan continues. "I swear, I was going to tell you. But I wanted to make sure. I think they're the werewolves the old hag was talking about."

"They're not werewolves, Dan," she informs him with a blank expression.

A smile comes across his face, his slightly crooked teeth easing some of Bella's anger. "You know, I knew you'd say that. But yeah, I figured that one out after what just happened."

"When I told you I was going to check out the outskirts of town a few days ago, I came out here," he says, gesturing around to the woods on either side of them. "I came across one of them, and pretend you didn't hear this from me, and it scared the _shit_ out of me. I drank some blood, pulled a knife on it, and yelled that I was going to kill it if it didn't go away. He didn't like that. I landed a good kick on it, heard his buddies in the distance and decided to just run away."

"I wasn't sure if it was a werewolf or not. And no one in town has really said anything about seeing or hearing huge wolves at night, so I kind of just put it on the backburner. I wanted us to focus on the vampires that are in town, you know? When you went to the store I was still mad, and on a wild hair decided I was going to find out if they were werewolves. I really didn't think you'd come out here because it's so far."

Bella just looks at him – she understands, partly, because Dan has never maliciously kept information from her. Guilt makes itself known in the back of her mind – she honestly has withheld information from him because she felt it wasn't the right time to tell him, so why was she giving him such a hard time? And she still has to tell him about the dinner invitation. Her face falls.

"Okay, I know it's really stupid. I just never got around to telling you, you know?" Dan sighs. He then squints, scrutinizing Bella. "Were you following me?"

"No," she answers honestly. "I was still kind of ticked and hadn't wanted to go back to the house. I just rode the bike up here, parked it, and decided to take a walk in the woods to clear my mind. And," she pauses. "I have some news for you when we get back to the house."

Dan looks at her funny. "Let's go, then. You good to run?"

"Yeah."

* * *

Bella and Dan take turns using the shower. After she is done with hers, while he is showering, Bella prepares a dinner for them both. She prepares both her and his plates.

When he's done, he comes downstairs, and thanks her. He reaches into the fridge for a beer, but Bella closes the door before he can grab one. She hands him a glass of water instead as he's asking what's her problem.

"There's still some vampire blood in our systems," she tells him matter-of-factly. "Besides, I think you should be completely sober for this."

His eyebrows furrow. He then laughs, deep and loud. "What, are you pregnant or something?" he moves to sit on the couch, dinner plate in hand. "I thought you were gay, Bella."

"I am gay," she affirms, laughing a bit, taking a spot next to Dan on the couch. "No, I'm not pregnant. This is serious. It's about the Cullens."

Dan stiffens beside her, setting his plate on the coffee table in front of the couch. He takes a sip of the glass of water, holding it in his hand and staring intently down at the clear liquid when he's done drinking. "Let me guess, when you went to the store you saw one of them, right?"

"Yeah. Alice."

"Wow. You know, they always seem to catch you while you're alone," he takes another sip of his water, setting the empty glass down on the coffee table with a little more force than actually necessary. "Maybe we should start sticking together more."

"Maybe," Bella agrees half-heartedly – something deep inside of her wants to see Alice more. Alone.

She blocks it out.

"What happened?"

"I … received an invitation from Alice."

Dan's eyes go squinty. "What? To _where_?"

Bella runs a hand through her hair, her eyes focusing on Dan's empty glass sitting on the coffee table. "To dinner. Tomorrow. At their house. With their family," and then she adds as an afterthought: "She said the invitation was extended to you, too."

Turning her gaze to meet his eyes, Bella watches as he opens to mouth as if to respond and then closes it again. He scratches his chin, his short nails making a whispering like sound against the days old stubble. "Okay. I want to get this straight," he says. "You went to the store, got invited to dinner by Alice Cullen, which is tomorrow night, at her house and with her family. I'm invited too. Oh, and, they're vampires. All of them. Did I get it right?"

"Suspected vampires," she corrects him. "But otherwise, yes."

"What'd you say? To the invite."

"I told her yes," she answers.

Dan nods rather absentmindedly. A hand moves to idly scratch at his chin again. She waits, preparing to defend herself as best she can against his oncoming onslaught of objections, which were bound to be mostly based on reasonable, valid facts. Why didn't she decline? She doesn't really know what she's going to say – and she absolutely refuses to tell him that she'd only accepted the invitation because a part of her is rendered helpless, seemingly incapable of saying no to Alice Cullen.

"Huh," he shrugs a bit, almost as if he doesn't know what to say. "You know, I didn't think you'd say yes. You're full of surprises today."

She regards him suspiciously, "What are you getting at?"

"Come on, Bella. You don't take big risks unless you really, and I mean really, have to since you know what happened. And this is a fucking huge risk," he explains, shrugging some more. "Walking into a house full of what, seven vampires? Putting in all the chips, aren't ya?"

"Dan-"

"Don't whine at me. It's gutsy as hell and you know it," he pauses, then hums. "We can ambush them. They wouldn't see it coming, you know."

Bella shoots him an incredulous look. "You're kidding, right? Let's keep in mind there's _seven_ of them. You even said it yourself."

"Yeah. But if we bring all our weapons and can manage to befriend the wolves..."

Her mouth falls open before she snaps it shut a few seconds later. She can feel her patience wearing thin, reaching the end of its (long, might she add) rope. Pinching the bridge of her nose, Bella closes her eyes. "Hopefully you're still joking," she says evenly, the tone of her voice tight. "Or did you already forget they tried to kill us a few hours ago?"

Dan rolls his eyes, his own exasperation showing. "Think about it," hazel eyes look at her pointedly. "They most likely only came after you because of me."

Considering his point, Bella takes a moment before responding. "I was ambushed, Dan. It was like they were waiting for me."

"Because of me," he reiterates. "All I'm saying is that tomorrow before the dinner, you should go talk to the wolves. Remember the barrier thing? It wasn't too far from where I landed. I know where it is. They shouldn't be able to get you."

"And what about you?"

"I'll take some blood, run in and get them all riled up and drag them to the barrier thing. I'll go hide somewhere and listen in."

Bella takes a moment to think it over in her head, going over Dan's plan in her head. It seems solid enough for the moment – they could go over the details in the morning. There's just one thing…

"Okay, I'll talk to the wolves," Bella agrees, pausing at Dan's approving smile. "But only under the condition that we strictly treat the dinner as a recon mission," As Dan starts to protest, Bella then adds: "We'll finally determine whether the Cullens are vampires. Deal?"

Dan covers his face with a hand, sighing. "Fine. Deal."

Something inside of Bella doesn't really care if the rest of the Cullens turn out to be golden-eyed vampires – she just hopes that Alice is not, that maybe she is some other supernatural that has managed to live peacefully amongst a coven of vampires…

* * *

Late morning comes sooner than Bella finds herself truly ready for.

Dan has already taken a dosage of vampire blood. He carries her on his back, and his legs move at the same speed as a vampire's. The trees are but a brown and green blur to Bella as they whirl through the forest and dizziness envelops her – no vampire blood is in her system, so the speed is unnatural to her body. She tilts her head up, focuses on the dark grey of the clouds miles above the surface of the earth to ease the queasy feeling in her stomach.

Dan comes to a complete stop, jarring Bella from her trance induced by the grey sky above. Dismounting from her perch on his back, she stumbles just slightly as her feet come in contact with the ground. He grins knowingly at her.

"Not dizzy, are you, Bella?" he teases lightly, grinning.

"Shut up."

He guffaws, lifting a hand to ruffle her hair and sending brown strands flying every which way.

She swats as his oversized hand but he draws it back before she can actually hit him. Bella glowers hotly at him. "Can you focus, you ADD ridden brat?"

"Ouch. So feisty lately."

Bella sighs, not wanting to tell him she's snappy because somehow she's back at the place where a hungry pack of horse-sized wolves came so close to literally ripping her apart, not even 24 hours earlier. "Are we here?"

He nods, pointing with his thumb behind them. "That's where I landed yesterday," cracking his neck, he takes a couple steps forward so that he's in front of Bella. "I'll be back in a sec."

Bella barely has time to whisper, "Be careful," to him before he's gone in a blur.

Not more than a few minutes after he's gone does Bella hear the howls. Soon, maybe a few seconds after, she hears the footsteps – not loud as before, but that's probably because before she had vampire blood coursing through her veins – and the trees and low shrubbery shake. Dan runs past her, and she assumes that he's going to find a suitable hiding spot to listen from as they had discussed earlier.

The wolves come next, their numbers less than what she remembers from yesterday. This time, there's only four of them; the black one, a reddish-brown wolf, the mixed brown one that joined in on attacking her the day before, and a dark silver wolf.

As the four of them come to a halt maybe a foot away, the black one stands tall directly in front of her, and Bella internally fights not to step back into a defensive crouch and draw a weapon. It doesn't growl or snap its jaws at her like the others; it only stares intimidatingly down at Bella, yellow eyes unblinking, the muscles of its large frame completely tense and unmoving. She gets the impression that this black wolf is probably the leader.

"My name is Isabella," she speaks directly to the black wolf. "I wish to do you all no harm."

The other wolves have quieted down at this point. Except for the one with dark silver fur; a low growl rumbles in its throat, raising a paw to slam it into the earth below. She simply observes as it snaps its maw at her. The reddish brown wolf growls as well, directing the threatening sound at the silver one, which snaps at the reddish brown one instead. The black wolf turns its head towards the two, baring its teeth at them. They both grow quiet, the silver wolf cowering.

"I wish to speak with you," Bella says then, projecting confidence in her voice. Her hands ball into tight fists at her sides, steeling her resolve.

A snort shoots out of the large nose of the black wolf, its yellow eyes narrowing in scrutiny at Bella. It then turns its large head to the other wolves, as if somehow communicating telepathically, and retreats into the trees, the thick brush hiding its large form. Bella half expects the other wolves to leave as well, but they remain glued to their spots – the reddish brown one even sitting – and watch her intently. More menacing growls come from the dark silver wolf.

Where the black wolf had disappeared, emerges an extremely tall, shirtless man, clad in nothing more than a pair of worn jean shorts. The color of his skin reminds Bella of copper in its untouched, natural state. His unreadable face and eyes fix on her, the well-developed muscles of his upper body flexing as he walks towards Bella. He stands in the spot the black wolf had occupied, towering over her much like the animal had did before.

That stare, though dark brown eyed, is the same – this man _is_ the black wolf.

 _Some kind of shapeshifter?_ Bella immediately thinks. _If so, then they're all shapeshifters._

"Isabella. I'm Sam Uley," the tall man's – Sam's – voice is a gravelly sort of deep. Bella also notices the large tattoo of a howling wolf on his right arm. "Why is it that you and your friend repeatedly trespass across our lands?"

"Forgive us," Bella says, her eyes widen slightly in a dawn of realization – she remembers the sign she had passed yesterday on the motorcycle. It had said something about a reservation… "We were only exploring the area and were unaware that these were your lands."

The mottled brown and dark silver wolves both emit a low growl. The reddish brown simply repositions its forepaws, its claws flexing and digging into the dirt below.

Sam regards her with suspicion. "You'll be wise to keep off our lands unless invited," he instructs. "Are you a resident of Forks?"

"Yes," she answers. "And so is Daniel."

"Is Daniel your friend?"

"He is," she answers again. At that, the red-brown wolf turns and trots into same nearby brush that Sam had gone into before.

A minute passes, and out comes another russet colored man, his hair cropped short, the same wolf tattoo on his left arm. His face appears younger than Sam's however, but his jawline is sharp, and she can see the muscles are tense as he approaches them, standing beside Sam; he's taller than Sam, with largely the same definition of lean muscle.

"Who are you?" the new addition demands fiercely, stepping forward so that he is in front of Sam but still behind whatever imaginary boundary they're forbidden to cross. "Or _what_ are you? You're not human."

Sam places a hand on the other guy's shoulder. "Jacob—"

"They're threats, Sam!" Jacob roughly shrugs off Sam's hand, turning to Sam and throwing a hand in Bella's direction. "They crossed our borders what, three times now? We shouldn't be playing nice."

"Hey, now," Bella raises her both hands in what she hopes is a placating gesture. "I assure you that Daniel and I are not threats. At least not to you all."

Sam's eyes harden considerably. "Explain."

Not feeling in the slightest bit comfortable about giving up information about herself and Dan, Bella sighs to collect her racing thoughts before responding honestly. "We're Hunters. Not exactly human, as you guessed."

"Hunters?" Jacob's eyes narrow into tiny dark brown slits.

"What do you hunt, exactly?" Sam asks, his deep voice even and calm – a contrast to Jacob's, whose voice is more on the side of forceful and demanding.

"Vampires," Bella shifts her gaze between the two tall men towering over her. She really doesn't want to tell them that they actually hunt all supernaturals – or that she comes from a specific Hunter lineage that specializes in those that 'skin walk' or shapeshift, because she's pretty confident that their pack consists of some kind of shapeshifters.

"What? You guys are Vampire Hunters?" Jacob openly gawks, appearing rather boyish standing next to Sam's stoic face.

Sam nods, as if slightly impressed. "Interesting. Have you come here for the Cullens then?"

Bella hesitates in her answer. By now, the other two wolves had shifted into their human forms – both approach to join in on the conversation, both possessing russet skin and clad in shorts. A beefy one, though still muscular, pushes past both Jacob and Sam, his nostrils flaring like an angry bull. "Bullshit," he hisses, his muscles flexing dangerously across his broad chest. "We're the only hunters of the Cold Ones!"

Bella turns to him, "Cold Ones?" she asks, but directs her question more towards Sam and Jacob. "What are _you_ guys, exactly?

The same beefy guy answers, his eyes livid and voice raising to a near shout; Bella gets the impression that he's quite the hothead. "What's it to you? We're the only true enemy to the Cullens. So how about you fuck off," he spits venomously.

Bella simply raises a brown eyebrow up at him.

Jacob pushes the beefy guy back, who glares daggers at him. "Don't be stupid," Jacob hisses at him. "It's good _they_ ," he seems to spit the word, and Bella has a feeling that he's speaking about the Cullens, "have more enemies than just us."

"Paul," Sam seemingly barks at the beefy guy. He then gestures to the one nameless russet skin man, who coaches Paul into calming down and slowly drags Paul by the arm away from Bella; she can't help but notice how his entire frame shakes and trembles. Sam turns back to Bella. "We're werewolves."

"No, you're not," Bella's reaction comes out before she can really stop it, and as the copper skinned men before her bristle in offense, she tries desperately to amend her objection. "Are you allergic to silver?"

In that moment, Paul comes storming through the bushes, muscles rippling, his chest inflating and deflating with his shallow rapid breaths. Hands in solid fists at his sides, his entire frame shakes violently, his brown eyes filled with some kind of primal and utterly animalistic rage. Bella feels threatened, and steps back, reaching for the loaded gun strapped to her ankle.

"What?" the trembling man bellows disbelievingly. "I'm not a fucking werewolf! I'll—"

He erupts into a hulking wolf, dark silver fur bristling and reflecting the sunlight dulled by the clouds above, lips curved back to reveal sharp canines. A deadly snarl tears from its – Paul's – throat, paws kicking up dirt as it charges straight for Bella.

The mottled brown wolf crashes into the wolf form of Paul before he can reach Bella. Growls and snarls are exchanged. Sam raises a hand, directing a silent order to the mottled brown wolf, who then directs its intense gaze towards Paul. After a staring contest, it seemingly forces Paul to follow it back into the bushes.

Sam turns back to Bella, frowning. "Sorry," he says, voice short – as if he were just saying the word out of common courtesy. "No. We're not allergic to silver."

"I've encountered werewolves – they're allergic to silver," she explains quickly. "Does your power change with the phases of the moon?"

"We phase when we desire; we don't worry about the moon."

A rather tense silence falls over the three of them. Bella sighs. "I'm sorry," she apologizes. "I don't know what you guys were told, but please trust me when I say you all are not werewolves."

"Then what are we?" Jacob queries. The features of his face darken.

"Shapeshifters? " Bella shrugs, and then she switches the topic, not wanting to explain how she knows. "And to answer your earlier question; yes, we're here for the Cullens," she takes a breath.

"So you're here to take out the bloodsuckers?" Jacob asks.

Bella's chocolate brown eyes widen, and she feels something drop hard in her chest. "Bloodsuckers?" she furrows her eyebrows. "You mean vampires?"

"Yes," Sam's head moves up and down in a slow nod.

"What else?" Jacob sneers, his top curling up in apparent disgust.

 _The Cullens are vampires_ , the thought echoes inside her head repeatedly, like a mantra. The inkling in the back of her head confirms itself, and then she can almost hear Dan telling her, "I told you so."

 _Alice is a vampire_ …

She shakes her head as if to clear the invading voices away. Sam eyes her weirdly, and she fidgets. She has to answer the question that has been plaguing her all this time: "What's with their golden eyes?" her question comes out exasperated, and she can't stop herself from tossing a flippant hand in the air. "Vampires have red eyes. It doesn't make any sense."

Jacob snorts and Sam's gaze softens, his stance relaxing just the tiniest hint, as if he understands her frustration – that he understands why her and Dan haven't just simply eliminated the Cullens if they were experienced Vampire Hunters.

"They don't hunt humans," Sam informs her.

Jacob emits something akin to a growl, crossing his arms over his broad chest. "Else we would have killed them all by now," he mutters darkly.

"You stand on their land," Sam points a large finger to the spot next to Bella's feet. "We have a… treaty with the Cullens. They can't come onto our lands, nor hurt a citizen of Forks. In exchange we keep off their land and refrain from killing them."

"And this treaty has upheld?"

"So far," Jacob grumbles.

Another russet man runs up to Sam, eyes wide and breathing quicker than usual. "She came back again. Leah spotted him at the north border," he informs Sam hurriedly, the words of his sentences almost stringing together.

Jacob starts and quickly dashes off into the brush. "Come on, we have to get him this time," he yells.

Sam motions for the other man to follow Jacob. "I must go now," he says to Bella. "I'm not going to consider you a threat anymore. Just know that you are not supposed to come onto our lands unless invited; come to this location if you wish to speak or come onto our land."

With those words, he, like the rest of his pack, disappears into the thickness of the forest.

After a minute or two, Bella releases a breath she hadn't been aware she'd been holding. A sense of relief washes over her – the pack of wolves are no longer an enemy bent on killing her and Dan, but not exactly a friend either. Another feeling – one that Bella is unable to exactly place – pangs in her chest because the Cullens (as far as Bella is seriously concerned, _Alice_ _Cullen_ , really) are vampires…

She hears the bushes some ways behind her rustle in stark contrast to the quiet forest that surrounds her, and starts a little. But, she realizes as a familiar figure comes into her line of sight, it's just Dan coming out of whatever hiding place he had found.

Dan stretches languidly, groaning as he does so. "Man," he shakes his limbs loose, and then cracks his neck followed by his knuckles. "It's so hard staying in one place for so long. You should be proud of me, you know?"

"I am," Bella says absently. She begins walking towards the general direction of the house. Dan follows beside her.

"No, really, it was so hard not to jump out and kick that hot-headed guy's ass," he insists. He falls silent for a moment, but then continues. "So we got shapeshifters and _vampires_. Hey, can I say it?"

Bella groans, closing her eyes and reaching up to pinch the bridge of her nose. She stifles a gasp as an image of a smiling Alice Cullen flits behind her closed eyelids. "Yeah, whatever."

"I told you so."


	10. Chapter 9: Dinner, part 1

Chapter 9

In the late afternoon, when they're both back at the house, Bella struggles to convince Dan that even though the Cullens are now confirmed vampires, attending dinner at the Cullen's residence still has to happen.

"Why?" Dan forcefully throws the one-worded question Bella's way, his voice rising to a near shout, still hyped up on a bit of vampire blood. "What's the point? We already know they're vampires."

 _You want to see Alice_ , her inner voice answers with a hiss. She shakes her head in the negative at it before heatedly answering Dan, "It's still a great opportunity to learn about them, how they work, how close they are to each other. You don't think that's important?"

He falls dangerously silent at her words, his jaw then locking before he mutters, "It's not like we study them."

"There's _seven_ of them, Dan, and _two_ of us," she doesn't know how many times she has to say it for this to get through his thick head. She is well aware he wants to just go in, guns blazing. But logically, they just couldn't – even if _she_ wanted to.

 _You just want to see Alice. Unharmed_ , her inner voice hisses at her again. If she had the opportunity to physically reach inside her head and somehow manage to strangle her brain, she's positive she would take it.

"Yeah, yeah, I've heard it all before," he sighs, running a hand through his short hair, visibly trying to calm down, even with the remnants of vampire blood filtering through his veins. "We do need to hit them soon though. Don't pretend we don't. It's our job."

"This isn't going to be like all the other times," she voices the thoughts that have been swimming around in the deep pools of her mind for quite some time now. "It's different, and you know it. The Cullens are different… they aren't just killer rogues that are hidden to everyone else. We have to be prepared, even more so than usual. We have to plan for everything."

She just doesn't tell Dan the full of it – that she doesn't think the Cullens have harmed anyone in Forks or the surrounding areas. So there's no point in killing them; there's no point in prepping…

 _Unless it is an ambush_ , her mind supplies darkly. Stupidly – or to her benefit, it's hard for Bella to exactly tell – she pushes this thought out of her mind.

Dan visibly starts to concede, but not without making his point, "Remember the dead girl the cops told us about? They're still dangerous, Bella, you know."

She sighs heavily and glances at the clock ticking on the far wall of the living room; time dwindles nearer and nearer to dinner with the Cullens (with Alice.) She tells Dan that she's going to start getting ready – and that he should do the same – and heads upstairs to take a shower.

The water flowing from the head of the shower beats steadily on her naked body, hot where it touches her pale skin. Steam rises around her, adding to the heat that quickly fills up the bathroom. Bella closes her eyes as she slides her head under the spray, the water massaging her scalp.

Her thoughts jump around in her head, from the encounters with the shapeshifting wolves to what could possibly go horribly wrong at the Cullen's house later in the evening. At the thought of the Cullens, an image of a smiling Alice Cullen flits behind her closed eyelids.

 _Alice is a vampire._

She hasn't confirmed it with her own two eyes, sure, but she doesn't think the wolves have anything to really lie about – the hatred and contempt that showed, even reflected in Sam's calm dark brown eyes, had been too authentic.

She thinks of golden eyes, shining with a mixture of friendliness, curiosity, and a hint of mirth. She thinks of short jet black hair that spiked in every direction. She thinks of a warm smile with teeth so dazzlingly white that they appear to radiate a distinct type of brightness not found anywhere else. She thinks of a voice that is softly feminine in nature, light and lilting, containing a hint of flirtiness…

Even though Alice is a vampire – dead and cold, and quite possibly, a murderer with a _literal_ thirst for human blood – she is physically unable to stop her hands from wandering teasingly across her own body. While thinking of Alice and her voice, her smile, Bella's hand slithers down her stomach to the slowly building throb between her thighs. She hums in pleasure as her fingers part her wet folds, stroking her sensitive bundle of nerves and dipping inside of her entrance.

It's not long before she brings herself to the breaking point, her body shuddering under the hot spray of the water as she's overcome with the burst of pleasure that rips through her.

She calms her breathing as she brings herself down. When her breath evens out and she opens her eyes, she's determined to block out that she'd just gotten off while thinking of Alice's ethereal beauty. Hurriedly, she finishes her shower, switches off the water and reaches for her towel to dry herself off.

She refuses to think about who she's just gotten herself off to…

* * *

When the doorbell rings unexpectedly, Bella has already dressed herself – she had decided on dark wash jeans that hugged her hips nicely and a red flannel shirt that she honestly thought more as a blouse than an actual shirt. She's downstairs, perched on the couch, laptop sitting comfortably on her lap as she browses articles that she wishes would instruct her on how to behave at a dinner at a house occupied by seven vampires.

Dan is upstairs, dragging his feet in getting ready.

Bella pulls the screen of her laptop closed and moves to quickly answer the door. She has a small inkling as to who could be on the other side of the door.

Yet, as Bella pulls the door open and confirms her hunch, she's still stunned at the sight of Alice standing on her doorstep.

"Hello, Isabella," Alice greets her warmly.

"Hi," Bella returns the greeting, not missing the way her golden eyes dip low before coming back up to hold eye contact with her. Her mind flashes back to her time in the shower, and she feels a hot flush come over her. "Um, is something up? We're still having dinner at your place, right?"

Alice's smile falls into more of a smirk. "Yes, we most certainly are," her voice shifts from that warm tone to what Bella swears is a more seductive one, but then as quickly as it came, it's gone. "However, I realized that you probably don't know where our house is located, so I came to pick you up," she then casts a quick look to the truck in the driveway, adding swiftly, "Or you can follow me in your truck. Either one is fine."

"That's thoughtful of you. Thank you," Bella smiles easily, the temptation to accept a ride from Alice becoming greater and greater. She hears shuffling from the top of the stairs, and casts a glance over her shoulder, making eye contact with Dan (inwardly, she's both surprised and relieved that he's put on khakis and a clean dark blue polo shirt) who raises an eyebrow at her. "Um, we'll follow you in the truck."

Alice's eyes dim and she falters slightly in her warm and friendly expression. "Okay. Is Daniel coming?"

"Y-yeah, he is," Bella trips over her words and briefly looks at the ground, then back over her shoulder, her voice directed at Dan. "Alice is here. Are you ready, Dan-iel?"

As Dan descends the stairs he shoots Bella a look that seems to question her sanity _What the hell is wrong with you?_ "I was born ready," he jokes, taking his place at Bella's side. "Hey um - Alice, was it? How's it going?"

"I'm doing fine, Daniel, thank you," Alice smiles sweetly at him, but she directs her attention to Bella. "Are you both ready to leave?"

"Yep. We're starving!" Dan pipes up, patting his stomach obnoxiously. "Lead the way!"

Alice giggles before turning to head down the driveway to her insanely expensive looking yellow Porsche.

Bella can't help but to glare menacingly at Dan as they move to the truck. After pulling the truck door closed, Bella pinches the bridge of her nose and mutters lowly. "Can you try not to be the ass you've been lately? If you offend her family in their own home they might decide to kill us."

"What? I'm not being an ass," he defends brazenly, starting the engine of the truck. "You're just being Bitchy Bossy Bella. Besides, you said yes to this dinner, you know. Not me."

There's fair point in his statement, so Bella opts for attempting to relax her nerves and body instead of getting unnecessarily worked up. "Just don't go acting like you know they're vampires, okay?"

That statement, she feels, directs itself at her as much as she directs it at Dan.

"I'm not stupid, Bells," he laughs heartily, whipping out an old nickname he had given her many years ago. His thumb then points to the floor of the backseat. "But, in case one of us fucks up or something I put some heavy duty weapons in the back," he pauses, a slight smirk curving at the edge of his mouth. "Not that I'm banking on one of us fucking up or anything."

"Right."

He frowns. "Lighten the hell up. Seriously, if shit goes south, we're prepared. And I got your back."

Not compelled to give an audible response, Bella nods and then turns her gaze to the window. She refocuses on relaxing her nerves. Her mind alters between being happy that she's going to be around Alice to thinking the worst – that this is a trap, and she's lead herself and Dan right into the lion's den and she tries her best to suppress both sides at the same time.

Bella is not sure how many minutes pass, but as the greens and the browns of the trees and bushes that sit on the side of highway blend together, she knows they've been driving for some time now. Lifting her head from where it had been resting on the glass of the window, Bella watches as Alice's car in front of them takes a right onto a dirt path. Dan, after a moment's hesitation that only Bella could truly catch, mimics the action.

"She's _really_ taking us into the sticks," Dan comments offhandedly. "Or do you think she's taking us some place so—well, shit!"

In the midst of endless trees on all sides, a massive house emerges. Dan and Bella gawk openly at its tall and expansive stature. Dan slowly drives the truck up the dirt road that becomes the Cullens' driveway.

"Well … shit," Bella echoes Dan, temporarily at a loss for words or an appropriate vocabulary word for the grandeur of this house. "Do you think there could be more than just seven of them?"

Dan parks the truck outside of the garage – a garage that is probably the same size as the house that they currently rent – that Alice just parked her own car inside. "Could be. I guess we're about to find out, aren't we?"

He cuts the engine and exits the vehicle. Bella does the same, the thoughts running through her mind forcing her actions to be sluggish.

"Hey. You alright?" The close proximity of Dan's voice startles her; he had made his way over to her side of the truck without her noticing.

"I'm fine," her words come out rushed, and she begins to head for the front door of the impressive establishment. The burn on the back of her neck comes from Dan eying her oddly, she knows it.

One of her hands lift in preparation of knocking on the door. Just as she's about to do it, her eyes spot the doorbell, which Dan pushes before she can act. She doesn't know whether to thank him or glare at him. Hushed, indistinguishable voices sound on the other side of the door. She decides to do neither as it swings open to reveal a middle-aged woman with familiar golden eyes, chestnut brown hair not too different from her own, and a sincere motherly smile.

"Hello," the woman greets them enthusiastically, voice smooth and lilting much like Alice's, but not quite having the same effect on Bella as the petite girl's does. "You must be Isabella and Daniel. I'm Esme, Alice's mother. Come in, come in."

"Hi," Isabella and Daniel say the short greeting at the same time. As the older woman ushers them in, Bella goes first.

Once inside the house, Bella can't help but openly gawk at the insanely expensive-looking architecture; she shares a brief look with Dan, and she knows they're thinking the same thing: the Cullens, though vampires, know how to _live_.

"Wow, nice place," Dan delivers a – slightly surprising – genuine compliment. Bella only nods in agreement, eyes still actively taking in the décor of the house.

"Thank you," Esme's already warm smile seemingly begins to radiate more warmness. She looks between Dan and Isabella, her eyes sparkling with some kind of suppressed excitement. "I'm so glad Alice made some friends. It has been too long since she's had any guests," her next statement appears to be directed more at Bella, though Bella is not completely sure. "I'm excited that you joined us for dinner."

"Me too. It's cool being here," Bella struggles to put together words – and when she does, they come out rather lamely. She feels Dan lightly punch her in one of her kidneys for her lameness.

Alice chooses to waltz into the foyer at that moment, her blouse appearing to flow behind her as she beams brightly in Bella and Dan's direction. "Hello again," she says cheekily. Her dimples are showing, and Bella can't help but smile a small smile at the brief display of cuteness.

Esme turns to her daughter, "Alice, how about you show them the downstairs? I have to check on the food," she begins to walk off, presumably towards the part of the gigantic house that holds the kitchen, then turns back to the couple in the foyer, smiling again. "Dinner will be ready shortly. Please, make yourself at home."

Bella swallows thickly and chooses to ignore the miniscule scoff Dan gives at Esme's checking on the food (vampires only consume one thing: blood).

"Right this way," Alice guides them through the downstairs.

She leads the both of them through various rooms. She finds herself unable to focus on most of the details of the numerous rooms. As Alice walks wistfully and her melodic voice sounds from in front of them, Bella's total attention is pulled to the small girl. Attraction grips her, and Bella is not exactly fighting it; she barely registers when Dan sharply elbows her in the ribs and points to Edward, who is waving from his seat at an antique looking piano. She absently lifts a hand to acknowledge his greeting.

They enter what Alice describes as the family room, and Bella comes out of her Alice-induced trance enough to notice a striking blonde bombshell and a huge, muscular guy sitting comfortably on one of the couches. Bella is slightly taken aback at the seething glare the gorgeous blonde directs her way, before turning her glowering golden eyes back to the insanely huge-and-expensive-looking television mounted on the wall.

"Hey!" The muscular guy shoots up to his feet, stretching out his tree-trunk sized arms. He approaches the trio, smiling widely. The dimples in his cheeks and the baby-like curls in his black hair starkly contrast with his hulking frame. "Heard about you guys, Daniel and Isabella, was it? Been waiting to meet ya. Name's Emmett."

"Holy hell! Dude, you're _huge_ ," Dan exclaims, and it's Bella's turn to elbow him between the ribs.

Emmett just laughs. Bella thanks whatever deity in the sky that the big guy didn't decide to break Dan's skull for stating the obvious.

Alice is laughing as well, the musical sounds almost enough to send Bella into another trance state.

"You've heard about us?" Bella questions, mostly so that Dan will refrain from making a comment.

"Well, yeah, of course," Emmett answers, pointing to Alice. "Alley-cat here can't quite keep her mouth shut about ya."

Bella's gaze turn immediately to Alice. The girl's eyes conveniently avoid her. She swears the smaller girl is actively trying to suppress a blush from creeping onto her cheeks, but Bella knows better. _Vampires don't blush_.

Only when Dan speaks does Bella realize she hadn't said anything in reply out loud. "What's that supposed—?"

"Would you both be opposed to watching a bit of TV before dinner?" Alice perks up. Her words come out slightly rushed, effectively cutting Dan's question off, and Bella gets the idea that maybe the pixie-like girl is a bit nervous.

"Sure," Bella answers. She catches the look Dan sends her, which clearly reads _I'm even more suspicious about this entire thing now_.

Emmett seems to catch their exchange, sending a shrug in Dan's direction. He casts a mischievous wink towards Bella before turning to reclaim his spot on the couch next to the blonde. Alice follows him, and then Bella hesitantly sits next to Alice; Dan sits last, to the right of Bella, and she can easily tell he's on edge.

Bella feels the hairs standing up on the back of her neck, but she can't decide whether it's the closeness of Alice's presence doing something to her or a feeling of uneasiness.

The blonde scoffs. She rises to her feet, her long and shapely legs carrying her briskly out the room.

"Please excuse her," Alice apologizes, the tips of her fingers gently touching Bella's arm. Bella suppresses a shiver at the feel of the cold sensation. "Rosalie isn't the most … friendly around strangers."

"That's one way to put it," Dan quips.

"Yeah, but she comes around eventually," Emmett supplies, sighing. "Say, you guys up for watching the game?"

"Sure," Dan says slowly.

Bella gives a shrug of indifference. She catches as Alice's – playful, she's assuming – glare shifts from Emmett to herself and she mutters something a lot like "should've known."

The channel flips to the sports network, which is covering a live game of soccer, and the four of them settle into a mildly comfortable silence. The close proximity to Alice is dizzying to Bella, and she's wondering if she is beginning to hallucinate whether Alice is slowly inching closer to her with each passing minute.

It startles Bella when their thighs touch. She can't help but to cast a fleeting glance towards Alice, who is staring at the television. Her heart beats faster, and she wonders whether Alice can hear it. Should she say something to her?

Esme's voice sounds from the kitchen. "Dinner's ready!"

Emmett jumps off the couch immediately. He heads in the assumed direction of the kitchen.

From beside her, at that same moment, Alice's body goes rigid. Her beautiful golden eyes glaze over, staring straight ahead at the television screen and Bella is instantly reminded of the incident in the forest. She chances a glance at Dan, who is staring at Alice peculiarly, with guarded suspicion in his hazel eyes.

Her heart gives a hard, strong beat in her chest when Alice comes out of whatever state of mind held her captive.

"Dinner's ready! Aren't you hungry?" the small girl says, as if she had not just been trapped in a seemingly self-imposed daze.

"Um, sure," Bella says. She briefly looks to Dan. His eyebrows are raised, and his lip twitches with what she knows is the beginning of an unnecessarily sarcastic comment. Her eyes harden as if to instruct him _not_ to do it.

A snort escapes Dan, understanding the meaning behind the direct look. The trio heads into the kitchen, Alice leading with a wistful smile that Bella can't help but to find absolutely endearing. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Bella dearly hopes that this isn't some kind of actual ambush…

"You can sit at the table," Esme says as they step into the kitchen.

Both she and Dan sit at the table topped with a number of pans and plates. Bella watches out of the corner of her eye as Alice moves to have a hushed conversation with Esme before leaving the room. Her attention turning back towards the table in front of her, she notices the contents smell delicious, and Bella finds herself shocked. Since when could vampires _cook_? Was it even possible? Was the food poison in delicious-looking disguise?

When Bella and Dan have placed samples from each dish on their plates, they hear the front door open and close. Before they can take their first bites of their dinner, into the kitchen walks a blond man – vampire – who Bella has yet to see. He is tall, possessing extremely pale skin and golden irises, just like the other Cullens. His features are noticeably older than the rest of the Cullens – appearing to be the same age as Esme.

"Hello," he greets them both, smiling pleasantly. He moves over to Esme and presses a quick kiss to her cheek before turning back to Bella and Dan. "You both are Isabella and Daniel, I take it? My name is Carlisle. I am pleased to meet you."

"Yeah, man, sure."

"Likewise."

If Carlisle is amused by the stark contrast between their answers, he doesn't allow it to show in either his face or body language. "As patriarch, I am deeply sorry for not being present for when you first arrived at the house—"

Edward storms into the kitchen, cutting the 'patriarch' off. "Enough!" he half shouts. He runs a pale hand through his messy bronze hair, speaking his next words at a quieter volume. "Carlisle, I know what is going through your mind. Please, enough of the pleasantries. Business needs to be attended to."

Dan quickly gets to his feet. "Business, huh? You know, I knew this was some kind of trap."

Bella's heart falls in her chest. She stands up, suddenly very conscious of the concealed weapons she's carrying on various parts of her body. Did she really just lead herself and Dan into a trap set by _seven_ vampires? How could she be so stupid?

Alice barges into the room then, her attention directed at Edward. The sight of the raven haired beauty forces Bella's blood to boil and her hands curl tightly into fists at her sides. The beauty, the charm, the stunning smile – Bella had fallen for all of it. Her anger mixes with sadness… she had genuinely wanted to get to know Alice better…

Instead, she and Dan were at the mercy of vampires. She and Dan were going to have to fight for their lives. The irony reminds her of her fatal mistake during her Trials. She feels a sickness in the pit of her stomach.

"Alice, they're threats to us. What aren't you getting?" Edward bellows at her after what had seemed like they were communicating telepathically. He points in Bella's and Dan's direction.

Alice turns her head in the direction of his finger. Her eyes are filled with some mixture of worry, hurt, and anxiety.

"Edward, enough! You are making this out to be an ambush of sorts," Carlisle says sternly. He glances in the Hunters' direction. "Which I can assure you, it is not."

"Right, like we're gonna believe that," Dan spits. He reaches for the vial of blood placed on his hip, and quickly consumes the scarlet red liquid, lets the empty glass fall and break onto the tiled floor. "This shit was botched from the fucking start."

As if on cue, Jasper, Rosalie, and Emmett filter into the kitchen. Bella consumes her vial of blood as well. Almost immediately, she can feel the changes coursing through her, a renewed strength and determination awakening in her muscles. The residual blood tastes sweet on her tongue.

Carlisle raises his hands in a placating gesture. "Please, allow me to explain. This is turning into a large misunderstanding."

"Your whole fucking coven is here. That's explanation enough," Dan growls lowly.

"No, explain," Bella steps forward, in front of Dan while establishing eye contact with the patriarch of the Cullen coven. She hears Dan growl loudly in protest from behind her.

"What the hell are—"

"Trust me," she throws the two words over her shoulder with finality. His reluctance is palpable to her, but she needs his cooperation. She got them into this mess after all...

Bella glances at Alice, who has the nerve to look _guilty_.

"Thank you," Carlisle smiles professionally. His solemn expression returns and he pauses before speaking again. "Let me preface this by saying that the rest of my coven does _not_ know. However, _I_ am aware of the fact that the two of you are Supernatural Hunters."

 **A/N: Cliffhanger...**


	11. Chapter 10: Dinner, part 2

**A/N: Things happen in this chapter. A lot of things. There's minor description of violence, just as a precautionary warning.**

Chapter 10

There's an unnatural pause as both her and Dan struggle to take in this newfound information; Hunters work in such stealth that it could have been assumed that no other supernatural species had a clue they existed.

But apparently, their existence _is_ known… More so than they could have originally thought.

"What?" Dan bellows, but otherwise does nothing. Thankfully.

"How do you know this?" Bella asks evenly, her mind reeling with questions that she quickly determines would be better saved for another day – assuming she and Dan _live_ another day.

"I have encountered your kind before."

"Go on," Bella says.

Carlisle sighs before continuing. "Not too long after I was turned – a couple decades, perhaps – a handful of my colleagues were killed by Hunters. I do not know any other details about your kind other than the fact you hunt vampires and other supernaturals."

Bella snorts, crossing her arms. She suddenly feels mildly insulted – Hunters always finished their jobs or died trying. It was against the Order, everything they stood and _exist_ for to do anything else. "And you managed to escape?"

"Why I was spared, I do not know – I speculate it was because I was in the process of weaning myself from the consumption human blood."

"That's a load of shit, and you know it," Dan snarls from behind Bella. "All of you fuckers drink human blood."

Carlisle shakes his head. "This is false. Why do you think our eyes are golden instead of red?" He asks, his voice strong but gentle at the same time. "It is because we drink animal blood. Call us vegetarian, if you will."

" _Vegetarian_? That's some horse shit! I should rip your fucking head off!" Dan screams. He tightly squeezes his fists at his sides, the veins in his forearms starting to pop. He makes a move towards Carlisle, his body seemingly vibrating with uncontrollable rage. "You fuckers killed a girl just a few days ago, drained her dry."

The Cullen patriarch looks taken aback. "It was not one of us. No one here has red irises."

"Fucking liar—"

"So why'd you use Alice to lure us here? Do you want revenge?" Bella cuts Dan off. It almost physically pains her to say it – to confess outwardly that she had been tricked by a gorgeous vampire girl. It hurt to admit to herself that her infatuation will be the reason why she and Dan might get killed in the next coming minutes.

Because while the two of them are definitely good, she doesn't think they're good enough to fend off seven bloodthirsty vampires.

"We didn't use Alice to lure you both here. We did not know Alice had invited you to our residence until she told us."

"So you want revenge."

"Not at all," Carlisle says, shaking his head again. "We do not want violence. Just as Edward had stated earlier – you both were _potential_ threats, and we wanted to ensure our safety."

"I'll show you safety," Dan mutters, voice laced with darkened resolution. In a flash of movement, he reaches down to his ankle and draws a concealed handgun from under his khaki pants leg. The black metal of the gun glints dangerously in the bright lighting of the kitchen as he points the barrel in Carlisle's direction.

From the corner of her eye, Bella can see the rest of the Cullens start. A hand signal from Carlisle directs them to stop in their tracks.

"Again, we do not want violence," Carlisle explains. He seems largely unfazed by the gun pointed in his direction. "We merely wanted to have a meeting on how we can coexist peacefully—"

"Shut the fuck up. There's no coexisting peacefully with monsters!" Dan adjusts his grip on the handgun.

"Easy Dan," Bella starts, attempting to diffuse the situation, but he speaks loudly right over top of her:

"This baby's here loaded with silver. I'll shoot all you fuckers til you can't move, then properly burn you."

"Dan! Wait!" Bella shouts. Her eyes widen considerably as she witnesses the muscles in his trigger finger contract, depressing on the sleek black trigger of the silver-loaded handgun. One of her hands reaches out to grab it, to somehow stop the bullet from firing…

A gunshot rings out.

Bella had been the closest to the gun, so the muzzle flash blinds her sight for a split second and she stumbles away from Dan. She hears the commotion, the scuffling of supernatural speed movement in an enclosed space before her sight catches the scene. There's a mingling of shouts, and when all five of her senses quickly right themselves, she's not sure what she should be doing.

"You shot my _wife_!" Bella hears someone roar, and then she's roughly pushed out of the way. Her side collides with the kitchen table, the ornate wood cracking loudly upon impact.

Emmett tackles Dan, the gun skidding across the room.

For the first time, she registers that there is dark crimson blood seeping from the mean blonde from earlier – Rosalie – onto the tile floor. She hears the low hiss of the silver, and she knows it's burning the skin of the vampire.

Almost as if in slow motion, she also notices that Emmett and Dan are actively fighting; Emmett is on top of Dan, raining down blows in a flurry of anger. Dan dodges most of them, yelling and returning with successful hits of his own. Bella does not hesitate to move over and aid Dan, her heart beating wildly in her chest. Her hands grip hard on the boulder-like shoulders of Emmett, and she considers drawing a weapon to get him off Dan, but before she can tug someone else slips their arms underneath her armpits and drags her off.

"Let go of me!" Bella hollers, thrashing against the hold of her captor. She watches wildly as the Cullens convene around Dan and Emmett, breaking up the fight or helping Emmett kill Dan, she doesn't know. She has to help him, has to save him.

What happened during her Trial could not happen here, she would make sure of it.

Bella gathers enough purchase to summon up the momentum to head butt her captor right where she would imagine his chin would be. A grunt of pain emits from him, and Bella seizes the opportunity to whirl out of his grasp and face him. She recognizes the vampire as Edward, but does not hesitate in kicking him in the shin with her heel and following up with an elbow to his jaw, the latter of which he blocks. His hand reaches out to grab her again; however, she has already drawn a switchblade from her belt and rams the full five inches of the blade through his hand.

Her thumb rubs over the incantation on the brown handle of the knife, the small words glowing a faint blue. She feels the surge of power from within her, and projects it outward and into the incantation inscribed on the blade. Edward gives another loud cry of pain, attempting to pull the embedded knife out of his hand. Marble skin around the wound cracks and splinters, the blade burrowing back to the hilt and refusing to dislodge itself. As a deep gray moves up from the injury to Edward's elbow, effectively immobilizing the bronze-haired vampire, Bella turns around and dashes towards Dan and Emmett.

Barely halfway between from where she left Edward a writhing mess and Dan and Emmett, Alice stops her. Her delicate hands have a deceptively strong grip on Bella's upper arms.

"Stop. Please stop," Alice pleads. Bella's strength wanes from her touch, those pleading golden eyes. She feels such a strangely strong connection with this girl, feels as if almost it would simply be right just to listen to her…

Renewed anger bubbles up from within the depths of Bella's stomach. The scuffling has died down. Dan could be dead. And she's probably—

She spots Dan, being dragged by Jasper, his head hanging limp, his body lifeless. Her heart sinks so low in her chest she can't feel it anymore. Her blood turns cold. She breaks away from Alice and dashes over to Dan.

Alice catches her hand before she can make it over to Dan. Bella snarls harshly at the smaller girl, the vampire blood coursing through her body still vibrant and a strong influence on her more emotional behavior.

"He's fine," Alice assures her. "Please calm down. He's fine."

"You did this," Bella snarls at her again. She wants so badly to believe Alice. The anger shaking her entire frame, her Hunter instincts mingling with the vampire blood refuse to let her.

"Bella, this wasn't supposed to happen."

"I should kill you."

The words come out so cold, distant, and calm that Bella almost fails to realize that they fell from her mouth. She relishes in the hurt that immediately flitters over the beautiful features of Alice's face, the way her golden eyes filled with a deep sort of sadness. Something else aches inside of Bella for the girl. Something doesn't agree with her words, her feelings. She pushes it away.

Jasper, arms full with Dan's body, Carlisle, and Esme move over to Bella and Alice. (Bella inwardly sighs when she notices the steady rise and fall of Dan's chest – he's alive.)

Jasper thrusts Dan into Bella's arms, gives an uneasy smile, and dashes away. She looks down at Dan, and then up at Carlisle and Esme. She expects for them to kill her and Dan now, waits for the fatal attacks.

"You should leave," Carlisle's eyes are hard, but his voice betrays no hint of malice or apparent anger.

Completely dumbfounded, Bella stares at him. She scoffs, adjusting Dan in her arms. "What, you're telling me you're _not_ going to kill us?"

Carlisle sighs through his nose, a small smile coming across his older but handsome face.

It is Esme who answers. "Our intentions never were to harm you, dear."

Bella chances a look at Alice, who still looks impossibly wounded. The girl pointedly looks away from her, and Alice notices the setting of her jawline, the balling of her hands into fists. With her shoulders slumped, her posture appears defeated and agitated all the same. Bella's eyes soften with guilt, her words towards the pixie-like girl _I should kill you_ , replaying in the back of her head.

Her gaze trails back down to Dan before blinking back up at Carlisle and Esme.

"It's impossible for us to trust you," Bella states matter-of-factly.

"I understand," Carlisle says. "This was a gross misunderstanding; it should have been under better circumstances."

Bella nods, the rawness of her anger abating.

Esme motions towards the front door. "I'll show you out."

Dan's form sags in her arms before she moves him so that one of his arms sling comfortably over one of her shoulders. He groans next to Bella's ear as she easily drags him, following Esme to the front door.

Taking a glance over her shoulder, Bella looks at Alice. Carlisle had moved over to the petite girl, placing a hand on her right shoulder. He mumbles words to her, too quiet for Bella to decipher. Alice angles her face completely away from him, the top half of her body moving in a shrug.

Unexplainable guilt blooms in Bella's chest. She ignores it, turning her head to look at Esme before stepping out of the house and onto the porch.

"I'll be back," Bella declares with finality. _To set all of this straight_ _one way or another_ , her mind supplies.

The older vampire looks at Bella with kind eyes. "You are welcomed back, once matters have cooled off."

Bella is taken aback by the gesture of kindness, but simply nods before turning away. She makes her way to the truck parked in the extensive driveway, her mind reeling with recently occurred events.

After she has loaded Dan into the passenger seat and found the empty highway that will take her back to the house, her mind is concerned about Dan's wellbeing.

Her heart still concerns itself with Alice's obvious distress.

* * *

Dan is still in the grips of deep unconsciousness when they arrive at the house and Bella drags him up the stairs to his room. He mutters incoherent sentences during the short journey until she sets him onto his bed. He falls into silence as she checks his body for bites – the venom in the saliva of vampires possesses a toxic quality (the resulting 'sickness' from the deadly mixture tentatively named "The Eat" by Hunters) when mixed with Hunter blood.

She sighs in relief when she discovers no bites. She decides to leave him, heading downstairs, to allow him to come to his own – there is not much she can do. She's just so grateful that he is alive, albeit injured.

The vampire blood still thrums vibrantly through her veins and arteries, but she can feel the loss of power as her body steadily eliminates it from her bloodstream. She plops down on the sofa, absentmindedly turning on the television. Her thoughts drift elsewhere – from Dan to Alice, mostly.

Alice.

She feels a surge of primal anger at how Alice possesses some seemingly unbreakable hold over her. How is it at all possible? Sure, the girl is stunningly beautiful and her laugh is simply music to Bella's ears… But Bella _hardly_ knows her. How could Alice have such an effect on her mind, her body, seemingly her _soul_?

 _You're going crazy, Swan,_ Bella tells herself. She lets out a brief snort; it's a phrase that could have effortlessly fallen from Dan's mouth.

Dan.

She's glad he is alive, but she doesn't know what to do with him. He's becoming such a loose cannon…

She sighs, defeated by her thoughts.

Considering resorting to alcohol, she intends to get up, but she is comfortable where she sits on the sofa. Eventually the thoughts circling in her head slow and her breathing evens out. It does not take long before her mind becomes hazy and the blackness of sleep claims her.

 _She is back in the woods, hurriedly tracking the vampire through the trees. This is her final Trial, and after she completes it, she will be brought before the Council to become a true Hunter. She just has to complete this, as quickly as possible. She has all the talent to do so._

 _She doesn't need to follow every step in the Book to do this. Her abilities have gotten her this far – in such a short amount of time. All that is needed is for her to kill this vampire, and collect a vial of blood from the already dead thing to show proof of eliminating it. She was born to do this._

" _Hey, um, Bella," Jaden – her temporary partner in the final Trial speaks from behind her. "Don't you think we're moving a little too fast?"_

 _She has known Jaden for as long as she could remember – almost as long as she has known Dan. The three of them are good friends, though Jaden is less like the other two. He possesses a very cautious nature, only taking a step forward after much deliberation of every possible scenario. He goes by the textbook for everything._

 _This annoys Bella to no end._

" _No," she answers him curtly, stepping over a large rock. "We're already close to getting him. What's the point of slowing down?"_

 _She hears him sigh. "It's been a little too easy. Slowing down and consulting the Book would be better than diving right in. Are we even prepared for a fight?"_

" _Some hunts are easier than others."_

" _We're not even fully fledg—"_

" _Look!" Bella points to a particularly tall tree. The bark of it has a dark red stain – blood – on it. "It still looks fresh. We must be close."_

 _She breaks out into a run after consuming her vial of vampire blood, uncaring if Jaden followed her or not. She's sure she could kill a vampire without his help, should she have to – she's done it before… but curse Phase Four of the Trials for sticking her with a partner._

 _Bella comes to a tiny clearing in the midst of all the trees. She freezes as soon as she takes a step into the clearing, her breath catching in her throat. Jaden stops beside her, freezing as well – he had followed her._

 _Directly across from her, a woman is bounded by rope to a tree. She's sobbing uncontrollably, and upon spotting the pair of Hunters, she attempts to speak. The sounds come out garbled, blood pouring steadily from her mouth. She struggles harder against her bindings. Another sob escapes her._

 _The woman has had her tongue cut out._

 _Bella runs to the woman._

" _Not so fast," a voice stops her dead in her tracks. The branches shake from above, and then a figure descends just a few feet in front of her. The tall and lanky figure of a man blocks most of her view of the woman with the missing tongue. His head is ducked, but he raises it menacingly to glare at Bella._

 _She stares into blood red irises. Eyes the same color as the blood coming from the lady's mouth. Eyes so full of evil._

" _You've been ruining my fun," the vampire says. He pulls his lips back into a snarl, and his eyes glint with more than just simple murderous intent._

 _Jaden calls Bella's name from behind her. She doesn't respond until he calls for her again, only this time her name is garbled as it falls from his lips. When she blinks, somehow he is in front of her, impaled on the bloody hand of the vampire. His body twitches weakly, blood pooling as his feet from the opening in his midsection._

 _Gripped by terror, Bella takes a shaky step back. Her eyes widen when the vampire bites into Jaden's neck and rips a large chunk out of the soft flesh. Fresh blood spurts from the severed arteries, covering the vampire's pale face in crimson. Bella gathers enough nerve to draw a weapon, but she finds that her strength is gone, new wounds opening up on her skin and soaking her in a bath of her own blood. A burning sensation comes from a number of the wounds – bites – and she realizes she's infected with The Eat, being consumed from the inside out…_

She screams herself awake.

"Jesus fuckin—What the hell is wrong with you!" Dan runs out from the kitchen, clutching his head in one of his hands.

Her breaths come short and uneven, her chest rising and falling rapidly. Beads of sweat have formed on the nape of her neck, on her forehead close to her hairline, a few cascading down her face and back. She looks around the room wildly, wide and panicked brown eyes quickly settling for darting between Dan and her own hands.

"Jaden—" she starts, but cuts herself short when she realizes it was just one of those odd memory-nightmares that has from time to time. A bad one at that.

Dan's eyes soften considerably in understanding, his voice morphing into a tone more suitable for comforting. "You okay?"

She nods once though her heart still hammers in her chest hard enough to break her ribs and spill out onto the floor of the living room.

"Good, 'cause I'll tell ya what – I'm not doing so hot."

"I'm sorry. Headache?"

He stumbles back into the kitchen. "Feels like someone shot me in the head and then ran me over with a bulldozer."

"I'll get you some of the extra strength in the bathroom," Bella stretches as she gets off the sofa. As she heads upstairs, she fully notices the bright sunlight streaming in from the windows. She must have slept all through the night… Strange, because by that logic she should have been refreshed, but she still feels drained.

She gets the medicine from the cabinet in the bathroom. When she heads downstairs and rounds the corner into the kitchen, Dan is leaning against one of the counters attempting to eat an apple and soothe his headache at the same time.

"Thanks," he says as Bella wordlessly hands him the extra strength painkillers. He downs them without water.

Bella shrugs.

"About yesterday," Dan breaks the silence that has formed between the two of them. "My memory's a little fuzzy, you know. What happened?"

"We were at the Cullen's house."

"I got that much," he deadpans. He takes another bite of his apple.

Bella cuts her eyes at him, regarding him with guarded suspicion. "There was an altercation that became violent and out of control."

"What else?"

"Are you really telling me you don't remember this?"

"Oh, I don't know," his voice becomes distinctly coy, hazel eyes holding a deep anger. "I guess I just don't remember you having my back."

She bristles. " _Excuse_ me?"

"Bella, I got the living shit beat out of me and you didn't exactly try to help."

"In case you really don't remember, we were surrounded," she explains hotly to him, keeping her growing anger in check. Maybe she drank a little too much vampire blood yesterday – she could still feel its faint effects on her mind, her body. "You tried to kill their patriarch and you ended up shooting Rosalie instead. And then the big guy jumped on you because apparently you shot his fucking _wife_."

"We were surrounded!" Dan repeats. He turns around, so his back is facing Bella, and bangs his fist not holding the apple on the counter. "And you just wanted to sit around and talk with them!"

"Diplomacy, Daniel. It was _diplomacy_. You don't just charge right in when you're outnumbered two to seven."

Dan whirls around, chucking the apple in Bella's direction. She doesn't flinch as the fruit speeds past her head, hitting the floor somewhere behind her and rolling into the living room.

"You don't fucking _reason_ with vampires! They're the enemy. You kill them or you die trying!" he shouts at her.

Bella's frame shakes with so much unbridled rage. With each second ticking by she finds it exceedingly difficult to keep it all in check. "Don't give me that. You almost got us killed for no good reason at all."

"So? We're supposed to be partners. We were with the enemy and you didn't even have my back!"

"Who do you think dragged you out of there, Daniel? I fought to get to you. I had your back. I got us out of there _alive_."

"Fuck that," Dan growls. "It's that Alice chick. You're trying so hard to be all cuddly and friendly with her."

Bella can't help but falter in her words. "What are you—"

"I see it. You get soft when she's around. What gives, Bella? Vampires come before me, before being a Hunter now?"

"Dan. Stop—"

"No! No, you don't get to tell me to stop. I-I'm trying to do the right thing here. And you," he pauses, produces a vial of blood from his pocket. He consumes it before speaking again, his voice disturbingly calm. "And you—tripping over your feet for some vampire… _Fuck_ _you_."

He vanishes.

As she looks over her shoulder, the front door is wide open. It takes a moment for it register that Dan has left – has ran away. He's abandoned her. And he's hurting.

"Dan! Wait!" she calls in futility. Before she can really think her actions through, she sprints out the open front door. Her feet quickly carry her across the street, away from the house, and into the tree line.

 _That's your partner; you have to find him,_ a voice in the back of her head chants as she runs.

With a limited about of vampire blood in her system, she burns out fast. Even without the aid of the vampire blood, she can run for substantially longer and faster than a human, but there's no way she'll be able to catch up to Dan – in fact, she's so deep in the forest that she lost track what direction he was headed a while ago.

So she stops, out of breath from the sudden draining of the remaining supernatural blood circulating in her veins. A hand makes to reach for another vial, but she realizes she is out, and she would have to go back to the house for more. She bends over, hands resting on her knees. Nausea begins to strengthen its grip on her, but she shakes it off.

She runs her hands through her brown hair. She's so frustrated. Everything is strange. Everything is going wrong. Nothing seems to have a valid explanation.

Dan, her partner is gone. Just up and left her so quickly. Almost in a blink of an eye.

She's fostering some unfathomable, unexplainable connection with some random vampire who she really should be killing – Alice and her coven.

It's all absurd.

Absurd.

Bella lets out a shout full of anger, frustration, hurt, and confusion. It does little to actually calm her down. Her mind is nothing but a violent whirlwind, and she's not sure she is in control of her body, her own actions, or her own self anymore. Piece by piece the world she's thought she understood, had a good grasp of its workings, is rewriting or falling apart.

She's not quite sure she knows what she has done to deserve this.

But when she thinks about it, maybe she does.


	12. Chapter 11: The Unexpected

Chapter 11

Bella takes her time in trudging back to the house. She purposefully steps on fallen leaves and kicks loose rocks until they fly out of her line of sight. In taking her time of heading back, she holds on to the hope that Dan is somewhere close – that maybe he will find her, realize that she has been looking for him for the better part of three hours – and decide to return with her. And then they could talk out their issues, find a way to tackle them.

But as she breaks the tree line with her heart sinking low in her chest and a dull burning behind her eyes, she knows inwardly that will not be the case.

Taking a few steps away from the tree line, however, she spots a familiar yellow Porsche parked on the street, close to the driveway of the house. She hesitates in her next steps, her bare feet dragging along the grass, the green blades barely scraping her soles as her gaze focuses on the car across the street.

That yellow Porsche belongs to Alice. Does that mean Alice is at her house?

And if so, what could Alice _possibly_ want?

She spots the vampire girl sitting on her doorstep, stunningly beautiful even at this distance. She has to stop, just for a couple of seconds, to gain some composure. Dan is gone and Alice is now here – she can't catch a break.

Releasing a breath she did not know she had been holding, Bella runs towards the house. When she is steps from the driveway, Alice stands and sends a smile her way.

Something deep inside of Bella wants to return the smile, but she suppresses it. Dan's words from just hours earlier haunt her, tease her. Alice is essentially the reason that Dan is gone. She grits her teeth and releases another long breath from her nose, every footstep carrying her up the small hill of the paved driveway with filled with purpose.

"What do you want?" she has decided to skip the pleasantries – Alice can't be here for good news. Her presence isn't good news. She has to keep her guard up.

Alice looks taken aback at Bella's clipped tone, a flicker of hurt flashing in the depths of her golden eyes reminding Bella of how hurt Alice had looked (the nerve she has, Bella thinks) just the day before.

"Isabella," she scans Bella up and down, no doubt taking in the brunette's disheveled appearance, seemingly concerned. "Is everything okay?"

"I asked you a question."

Alice sighs, frowning. "Yesterday wasn't supposed to happen. Not like that."

"You came to my house just to tell me this?" Bella asks incredulously. She moves so that she's standing directly in front of Alice, using her slight height advantage to look down at the shorter girl.

It's probably not the best idea because Bella's body begins to thrums with a desire to touch Alice – of which she can't understand why because she _hardly_ knew the girl. The girl is a vampire, a supernatural creature known for extreme cruelty and evilness – something she is supposed to hunt and kill without question. And to top it off, she's apparently the reason Dan made the decision to take off. Why would she want to touch the girl, other than to cause her bodily harm?

"Some things have to be discussed," Alice says.

Bella crosses her arms over her chest, raises a single eyebrow. "Well, explain."

"It's something that should be discussed between you, Dan, and my fami—coven."

"So you want me to come back over your house?"

"Yes."

A bitter laugh tumbles from Bella's lips. "You really think I'm falling for that one again?"

 _You have to set this right_ , the voice in the back of Bella's makes itself known. But she manages to ignore it, shaking her head to rid herself of the poisonous thoughts.

She can't trust Alice.

She shouldn't even want to trust Alice.

The petite vampire looks up at the Hunter with earnest, her golden eyes capturing the sun's rays in such a way that Bella can't ignore their … ethereal beauty. "You don't have to stay for long. Just let us – let me – clear this situation up. We don't want trouble."

 _Get a grip_ Bella mentally yells at herself. "Right," she drawls out, shaking her head and crossing her arms over her chest. "If you don't want trouble, how about you leave?"

Alice sighs. "If I wanted to hurt you—"

"Don't give me that speech. I've heard it before."

"I suppose there's nothing I can do to convince you otherwise?" Alice simply looks at her, the short girl's expression one Bella cannot quite read.

"No," Bella finds herself shaking slightly; some absurd thing inside her wants to take Alice's words to heart, to trust the vampire. Trying to fight it, she reminds herself that Alice is the reason Dan has abandoned her. "Go home," she bites, turning to step into her own house. "Go back to your _coven_."

She slams the door in Alice's face.

Once inside, she expects to hear an indication of Alice's departure. However, she doesn't and when she realizes that Alice refuses to leave her property, a breath that had been trapped in her chest expels from her mouth. She's not sure what's affecting her more – Dan's sudden absence or this feeling that Alice always seems to invoke over her being. Bella begins to pace, scared of what her true answer may be.

Her mind races. Dan is gone. Alice is here. Dan is gone.

She rationalizes her situation, her choices. Alice had been right in a way – if the Cullens really did have intentions of killing her, surely they would have done so the moment they realized she was alone… and even if this is a second trap, at least she will be _only_ getting herself killed.

Somehow, her gut tells her that she is relatively safe with the Cullens – perhaps they really are vegetarian vampires that only seek to live as normal as realistically possible lives alongside humans. Her curiosity starts to get the better of her.

Before she really knows it, she's flung the door open.

Alice had camped out on the house's porch, her head rising and eyes immediately locking onto Bella.

"Isabella, please—"

"You know what," Bella says, cutting her off and not quite able to bring herself to care that she's being quite the definition of rude. "Just come inside."

"Pardon?"

"Come inside," she repeats, going against her better judgment. Dan would kill her if he knew that she'd just invited a vampire inside of their home – hell, any Hunter in his or her right mind would not hesitate in slicing her throat at that exact moment. For her kind it's an act of pure lunacy that is easily punishable by death.

Yet she does it anyway.

But there's something about Alice... A distinct pull that draws Bella closer to the petite girl. She wants to know her. It's something that Bella has been resisting since she's learned that the raven-haired beauty was a vampire, and she has an inkling that she won't know what it is (or what causes it for that matter) unless she gives into it. And, admittedly, her curiosity has been killing her since the very beginning…

Bella steps inside the house. She motions for Alice to follow her, the vampire girl doing so hesitantly.

"You can sit there," Bella points to the chairs at the small dining table in the kitchen.

Alice looks at her, her features reflecting that she is torn between being on alert and trusting Bella – which is understandable, really. Bella _had_ made a serious threat to kill her.

"What's going on, Isabella?"

"Nothing," Bella shrugs honestly, shutting the door with her foot. "I'd just like to shower, if you don't mind," she then decides to be cheeky, "And if your diet didn't only consist of blood, I would offer you something to eat and drink."

An obvious bout of annoyance shows on Alice's face, but just as quickly as it appears, it's gone. She moves over to the dinner table, sitting down easily, as if moving too fast would trigger some kind of trap embedded into the seat.

"I'll be quick," Bella tells her before disappearing up the stairs.

In the shower, even though the vampire (who obviously had the capacity of supernatural hearing) is just downstairs, Bella cannot refrain from thinking about the time she had gotten herself to the thought of Alice. It had seemed so long ago – before she had discovered from the shapeshifting wolves that Alice was indeed a vampire…

She doesn't leave much room for extensive pondering, keeping true to her word of not taking long in the shower. She dresses casually, halfway toweling out her wet hair before heading back down to the kitchen. She's feeling marginally better now, though her not-so-innocent thoughts have left the brunette feeling slightly aroused; she hopes that Alice, equipped with her vampire senses, does not notice.

When she rounds the corner into the kitchen, Bella is unnerved how Alice almost immediately trains her gaze on her. And – it could be the lighting of her kitchen – but Alice's eyes appear just a shade darker, and she briefly ponders why. In the back of her mind, she has a hypothesis or two.

"What?" Bella questions, a strange tinge of nervousness present in her voice.

"You _were_ quick," Alice observes, though Bella has a strong suspicion that Alice had an entirely different train of thought going. "Where is Daniel?"

"Somewhere," Bella shrugs. She isn't exactly up for telling some extravagant lie, nor does she want to sit around explaining that he basically got pissed and ran off. Besides, she isn't obligated to tell Alice a thing. She's technically the enemy.

"Somewhere," Alice echoes her answer, slowly going through each of the two syllables, raising a dark eyebrow.

"Yep," she grabs a glass from one of the cabinets and fills it with water, taking a few sips. "Before we leave, I'd like to know what exactly we'll be discussing."

"Wouldn't that be best saved for when we get there?"

Bella snorts. "I'm not a fan of surprises."

Alice laughs, and Bella inwardly relishes in the melodic sound as if she had been missing it all along. "Okay," she says, eyes still crinkling in the corners. "Sorry. You're funny. I should have remembered that. Mostly the discussion will be about what it should have been yesterday – discussing a truce of sorts because we don't want conflict."

"What else?"

"We'd like to learn a little about you, your kind. If you don't mind, of course. And," Alice pauses, appearing a bit sheepish – and cute, Bella notes – before continuing. "We need your help with Rosalie and Edward. Mainly for Edward, however. He is unable to move the right upper half of his body."

"Right. Do I get slaughtered afterwards?" Bella can't help but be sarcastic as she sets her finished glass of water into the sink. She takes a few steps closer to Alice, wanting to be closer to the vampire for unexplainable reasons.

"I just said that we are looking for a truce," Alice frowns.

"Right," Bella says again, sighing in defeat. "Just one more thing."

"Yes?"

"Why'd you lie to me? About dinner. You should've just told me what was going to happen then."

The other girl catches her eye, and Bella can tell she is choosing her next words carefully. "I didn't lie to you, Isabella. It blindsided me as well."

"Yeah, I'm sure it did," Bella's upper lip twitches. Information is being withheld from her – Alice had to know something was up. Otherwise, why would things have ended up the way they did? "Let's go then. Better to not keep your coven waiting – I'm assuming everyone's on the same page."

Alice doesn't say anything until Bella pulls her motorcycle helmet from the closet in the short hallway.

"I can drive you," the vampire offers, jingling her keys for emphasis.

"I can drive myself."

"But I insist," Alice pleads, her eyes pulling Bella in, making her bend to her will. She doesn't know how the girl does it. Vampires and their inherent unnatural beauty had always been so easy for Bella to resist…

Bella should have probably fought harder, but she succumbs, reluctantly agrees. "Fine."

* * *

Most of the car ride to Alice's coven's house is spent in a silence that hovers between the descriptions of comfortable and tense. One side of Bella feels as though she has made herself a prisoner of war, condemned herself to a miserable death at the hands of her mortal enemy. The other half of her, as pitiful as it sounds (and she doubts she can truly admit to herself) is content to be with Alice.

The sleek car rolls easily into the driveway of the Cullen Coven's House, the purring engine cutting when Alice removes the key from the ignition. They get out of the car at the same time and Alice holds the front door open for Bella.

"After you," the petite vampire says, a small smile playing at the corner of her red lips.

Bella hesitates, wanting to tell Alice that the kind gesture is not necessary.

"Thanks," she mutters instead, stepping through the threshold and into the extravagantly spacious house.

As Alice closes the door behind her, Bella halfway expects another welcome committee. She's mostly relieved when no other vampires show themselves to greet her; her instincts leave her a little uneasy because she _is_ in a house full of vampires, with none of them in sight.

Carlisle comes around the corner of one of the many rooms of the downstairs. His golden eyes are full of kindness and a sense of welcoming as he approaches Bella. She wants to believe it's an act, but for some reason she feels a degree of sincerity coming from the man…

"Hello, Isabella," he greets her. He looks between Alice and Bella with a hint of curiosity showing on his face. "Is Daniel not present today?"

"No. I have no backup today so you don't have to worry," she's unable to prevent the sarcasm from making itself known in her answer. She feels a twinge of guilt.

"Again, I apologize for yesterday," Carlisle says. "I'd like to continue where we left off yesterday – minus the intense misunderstanding. Would you be more comfortable speaking with the entire coven present, or just to me one-on-one?"

Bella briefly considers her options. Having whatever discussion could be beneficial in controlling for what misunderstandings could arise – everyone would get a chance to ask questions. But at the same time, any misunderstanding could fester into something more deadly for her. The one-on-one would be efficient, but she would also be completely alone… but did it _really_ matter, either way? She's a Hunter in a house full of vampires, and they could kill her at any time, regardless of the situation.

She really doesn't care. As long as Alice is present. She doesn't know why, or understand why, but she just _has_ to. Perhaps it's because technically she knows the vampire girl the best out of all the Cullens. Or she could desire her presence because she hopes it will coax the other girl into explaining some things a bit more.

She hopes.

"Why give me the choice?" Bella voices her thoughts out loud. "It's your house. I don't think it matters much in the long run. But," she pauses, unable to completely believe that she is about to actually voice her very last thought. "Alice has to be there."

Bella's sharp Hunter eyesight allows her to catch the millisecond of shock that flits across Carlisle's features; she swears she can almost feel Alice stand up straighter from behind her. He shares a knowing look with Alice that would have gone totally unnoticed had the brunette been human before directing his attention back to Bella.

"Very well," the Cullen patriarch nods. "We can speak one-on-one with Alice present. Please follow me to my study."

He turns around to lead the way to his supposed study. Bella follows, scrutinizing the back of his blond head. She tosses a glance over her shoulder at Alice.

That had definitely been some sort of discrete communication between Alice and Carlisle, and Bella would like to know just what about…

At the foot of the stairs, Bella jumps out of her contemplation when a small hand rests lightly on the small of her back. She sends a wild look to Alice, who appears embarrassed and gives her a hurried apology.

 _You liked the touch_ , Bella's inner voice chastises her. She shakes her head for it to shut up.

They come to the door of what Bella guesses leads to Carlisle's study. The blond man opens the door, ushering the two girls behind him in before stepping through himself and softly closing the door. He pulls a chair from the corner to join the one already in front of the desk.

There's another chair on the far side of the desk that Carlisle takes as his seat.

"Please, sit," he instructs gently.

The two girls move to sit in the remaining two chairs, Bella more disinclined to do so.

"Continuing from yesterday," Carlisle begins after a stiff silence, folding pale hands on top of the wooden and expensive looking desk. "I would like to again explain that my coven and I are the equivalent of vampire vegetarians. We don't consume human blood. We only drink blood from animals when we need to feed."

"That would explain the golden eyes," Bella says slowly, attempting to wrap her head around the concept. "But it's a little hard to believe. Human blood is what vampires thrive on. You want it, crave it, go crazy over it even. I've seen it."

Carlisle hums in agreement. "That is true. Human blood is very hard to resist, but once the adaptation is made to animal blood the temptation becomes easier to endure."

"Don't get Carlisle wrong," Alice chimes in. "Sometimes it's very difficult to be around humans – especially if the thirst gets to be too much."

"So you _have_ killed humans?"

Alice's eyes fall, almost apologetic. Bella knows the answer – or at least part of it – before Carlisle even fixes a response.

"We have had incidents that have caused us to move around in the past," the Cullen patriarch admits solemnly.

Bella stares at him unblinkingly. "See, for that I would have to kill you and your coven. I'm obligated to protect human life. No exceptions."

"That is understandable. It has been decades since we have had an incident, however."

The Hunter runs a hand through her chestnut brown hair, the strands still slightly damp from her earlier shower. For long moments she's at a lost for words. Her Hunter instincts are screaming at her, but she tries to keep a level head for the sake of diplomacy.

"This isn't even in the Book—" she starts to say, but shakes her head and cuts herself off. The Book is not to be discussed with anyone who is not a Hunter – _especially_ vampires, no matter if they claimed to abstain from human blood or not.

She imagines the many numerous pages that delve in depth about vampires, but none describe the concept of "vegetarian" vampires. And she has read all the pages, the entire Book. Multiple times.

"You're supposed to be evil," Bella raises her voice, gesturing to Alice and Carlisle. "I'm supposed to kill you because you're evil."

"I understand that this must be difficult for you to—"

With impressive speed and force, Bella lifts a fist and smashes it on the desk's surface. The antique and expensive-looking wood cracks slightly; neither vampire makes a move. "No you don't. It's taking all I have to believe you right now."

She only notices herself shaking when Alice's cold hand settles atop her forearm, the gentle touch bringing her odd calmness. She recoils sharply from it, wanting to collect her own self.

"This isn't in the Book. This isn't in the Book," Bella repeats her words from earlier like a mantra. "Are you lying to me?"

It's a feeble attempt to detect deception, but it's all the Hunter has at this point.

"No," Alice and Carlisle answer.

"Look," Bella begins after another pause, deciding to approach this whole thing in a different manner, direct and honest, mainly because she doesn't exactly see where Carlisle has attempted deception at the vampire level. "I have hunted and killed many vampires. Some were crazier than others, more evil than others, but all of them had no compassion for human life, or at the most, very little. They killed without reason or mercy. They got enjoyment from inflicting pain, watching people suffer. The very definition of cruel.

"But I am going to choose to believe you. Or try my hardest to. I don't see what you have to gain if you are lying, anyway. But I swear, you better not make me regret this," she finishes.

"I have seen it too," Alice's voice is soft, seemingly detached as she speaks, and Bella gets the idea that maybe the girl _has_ done something in the past. "Though, I still wouldn't say all of them are evil. Some are just… lost."

Bella does not give a comment. The thought had come to her a number of times, but she had never pondered it more than a couple of minutes before moving on. What if some vampires could change?

Could it really be possible for more vampires to successfully switch over to the same "vegetarian" lifestyle that the Cullens have apparently adopted?

… And had Alice been "lost" at one point?

"What is it that you want then?" Bella breaks her own line of thinking. "There has to be more on your agenda than just talking about what you eat—er, drink."

Carlisle gives a smile. "Ah, yes. Have you met the wolves of La Push?"

"The shapeshifters? Yes."

"We have a treaty that we established with their pack some time ago. It allows us to coexist peacefully."

"What? You want to draft some kind of _document_?"

"It's not entirely necessary," he chuckles. "Unless you and Daniel want, then it can most certainly be done. Truthfully, a verbal agreement will do. We just want peace; we have absolutely no interest in harming anyone."

This has to be completely unheard of; a Hunter making an agreement with a vampire is the absolute unspeakable. But the Cullens appear to be honorable, respectable people. She has detected no hints of deception from Carlisle. Sure, Alice has been withholding information but she doubts she has actually _killed_ anyone. It feels so wrong to even be considering such a deal, goes against her purpose and her instincts as a Hunter. If the Cullens really are who they say they are – vegetarian vampires – then is she really making the wrong choice? Wouldn't the true wrong choice be to bring harm to them, to kill them, if all they desired was to live their lives as normally as possible?

She could do it, she could live with their existence. But she knows Dan couldn't – she strongly believes he wouldn't be able to live with _any_ vampire's existence, even those as noble and honorable as the Cullen Coven. He'd claim they were lying, using their vampire tricks to deceive them so they could drink up as much human blood as possible. He'd kill them, treaty or no treaty. She knows it.

"Okay," Bella's voice comes out a bit shaky. "I can agree to peace, a truce. Only on the condition that no humans are hurt."

She watches out of the corner of her eye as Alice perks up in her seat.

"That's perfectly acceptable," Carlisle gives a single nod of his head. One of his hands sticks out over the desk, an invitation for Bella to shake his hand.

"But," Bella continues, deathly serious. "I-I can't say the same for Daniel."

Carlisle's hand droops a little, seeming to consider Bella's statement. It's the utter laid out truth – she can't speak for him, only for herself. Perhaps maybe she could convince him, but she the odds are against her – his hatred for vampires runs deep, the deepest of any Hunter she has ever known.

And truthfully, might Bella add, his hatred for vampires runs deep with startling good reason.

"I understand," Carlisle finally states.

He offers his hand again, which Bella takes and shakes firmly.

From beside her, Alice is smiling brightly, and she is unable to fathom a reason as to why. Sure, Bella just agreed not to slay the girl and any of her coven mates (provided they don't harm a human). That doesn't mean that the girl should be so happy – or relieved – that she looks seconds from wrapping her arms around Bella in a tight squeeze.

 _You want her to hug you_ , her inner voice tells the brunette. Her heart speeds up at the mental image of Alice hugging her, pressed close to her body, the vampire's silky-looking black strands of hair tickling underneath Bella's chin.

"Isabella," Bella's head snaps in Carlisle's direction, eager for rescue from her own mind. "Thank you. But I have a favor to ask of you."

"Which is?"

He looks to Alice. "Alice, do you mind getting Edward?"

Bella raises an eyebrow in confusion. However, she watches as Alice leaves the study; she suppresses the urge to ask her to stay, to not leave her. It takes most of her willpower not to slap herself for fear that Carlisle might question her sanity. She questions her own sanity enough as is.

Alice returns quickly with Edward in tow. He hisses in pain when Alice accidently brushes against the stiff greyness that starts from his hand and moves up his arm, disappearing into the short sleeve of his button up shirt. She apologizes quickly.

Bella's eyes fall to her blade, the inscriptions on the base of the blade pulsating on an interval with a faint blue light, still embedded into his right hand. Her eyes widen and she ducks her head as a sheepish grin makes its way across her face.

She had forgotten about that.

"What did you do?" Edward looks at her with fury in his eyes. "And can you _undo_ it? The pain is barely bearable."

The Hunter looks at Alice and then Carlisle. She pushes from her seat to her feet and moves over to Edward, Alice moving out of her way to let her work. All three of the vampires' eyes heavily concentrate on her.

Bella bends over to look at the weapon, admiring its sleek black and grey handle, the number of scratches its received on the blade over the years. She remembers when she first inserted the incantation into the blade…

"I kind of missed this thing," Bella murmurs, more to herself.

Edward grunts from above her.

"And I have to admit," she hums in admittance, ignoring him. "It's been a while since I've undid an incantation."

"Make it _stop_ ," he demands, a desperate edge to his voice.

Annoyed at his whining she looks up darkly at him, her hand roughly wrapping around the knife's handle. "Most of the time I don't have to. It undoes itself because whoever I used it on ends up _dead_."

Using the pad of her thumb to smooth over the engraved base of the blade, Bella lowly recites the Latin incantation backwards. She wiggles the knife once, the blue light pulsating once before fading out completely. After a brief pause, the muscles in Bella's forearm tense as she pulls the blade out from Edward's hand. She grimaces at the dried blood on the shiny blade, but she folds it closed and places it in her jeans pocket.

She listens as Edward sucks in big airs of unneeded oxygen, choosing to focus her attention on the awed look on Alice's gorgeous face. Bella can't help but to feel just a little proud of herself.

"Interesting," Carlisle says from behind her, still sitting at his wooden desk. "Is that some kind of spell?"

"I don't even want to know," Edward mutters darkly. Cradling his right arm close his chest, he rushes out of the room.

When the door closes, Bella answers carefully – even though the Cullens are now not an enemy she still can't afford to trade any secrets about her kind. "Not exactly. It just causes paralysis until removed."

Carlisle hums in acknowledgement.

A few seconds pass in silence before a thought comes to Bella almost magically. She clears her throat. "I have one last question for you."

"Anything," the Cullen patriarch says.

"Do you remember what Dan mentioned yesterday, about the dead girl? She had no blood in her body. You said it couldn't be any of your coven vampires because you all have yellow eyes, correct?"

"I do remember. And that is correct."

Bella takes in a large breath of air through her nose. "Well, do you know if what or who could have possibly did it?"

Carlisle hums, a contemplating look passing over his face. "Most likely rogues passing through the area could have taken her life. There have been a few that have come through as of late. Specifically, I remember confronting a couple, asking them to leave – they had strayed too close to town."

"When was this?"

"This was a couple months before you and Daniel arrived, I believe."

Bella looks past him, out the window at the sunset setting above the trees. She shifts her gaze to the analog clock on the wall, examining the red second hand as it ticks, counting the next few seconds.

"Thank you," she says, and then pauses to gather her thoughts. "I should go," she then announces. She turns to Alice.

There's a pause, and then the girl reveals her car keys. "Okay, I'll take you home."

* * *

The car ride back to Bella's house proves far less daunting than the one to the Cullens' residence. But again, she feels relatively comfortable in just Alice's presence. Her thoughts are what keep her body tense – mostly what Alice had meant by some vampires "being lost." There had obviously been some kind of implication behind it, and she can't shake the notion that somehow Alice had been referring to herself. Despite the small girl being a vampire, Bella remains unable to see her murdering a human in cold blood.

The Porches rolls to an easy stop on the street directly in front of Bella's home, much like it had back at the Cullen house. Bella starts getting out of the vehicle, but a chilly hand rests on her forearm and she stops. A chill runs through her spine but she knows it's not from the temperature difference between their bodies.

"What?" Bella tests the waters with the one-worded question.

Alice doesn't answer, at least not verbally. She opens her own car door and moves at full vampire speed to open Bella's door.

Confused and shocked, Bella pushes to her feet and out of the car.

"Thanks," she mutters, the word coming out more as a question than an actual display of gratitude. "That was slightly unnecessary."

The vampire grins, giving a shrug with her small shoulders.

Bella starts up the driveway, and after a few steps on the loose rocks, she realizes that Alice is following her just a step behind. She sighs, a touch of exasperation evident. If Dan was in the house, he would easily be able to see whatever interaction they have had so far – and he would definitely notice that Bella had allowed Alice to drive her.

She knows, however, in the very back of her mind that the house is empty. She just wants to be alone.

She deserves to be alone.

Bella speaks when they are a few steps from the porch, turning around to face her. "What are you doing?"

Alice's eyes shine with coyness. "I was walking you to your door."

"That—that is even more unnecessary than opening every door for me," an absurdly timed bout of nervousness comes over Bella, no doubt forcing blood to rush to her cheeks in a faint blush. She hopes Alice doesn't notice it, but knows such a wish is utterly futile – vampire eyesight is among the best, better than her own Hunter eyesight truthfully.

"Of course it is necessary, Isabella," Alice's soft words trigger Bella's exasperation to grow, and before she can properly stop herself, Bella speaks some of the thoughts she has been holding under lock and key for a while.

"No, it –that—what are you _really_ doing? Don't think I haven't noticed. You've targeted me for something. What do you want, Alice? What are you trying to charm me to do?"

She realizes how off her timing is when the words fall from her lips, her voice getting louder towards the end. She should have stopped asking questions a while ago, just took her miserable self into the house. She should have saved the accusations for another day, a more appropriate time. Her emotions are running high, she knows. Her emotions are blinding her, and she feels helpless against their relentless takeover of her rationality.

Alice's golden eyes soften to the point that they become watery, as if she were seconds from erupting into tears. A cheerless smile curves the edges of her lips, and it is the only thing that stops Bella from apologizing; she realizes that Alice is attempting to communicate something with her eyes, her expression. She can't decipher whatever hidden meaning Alice tries to convey, and she feels a little pathetic for her inability to understand just exactly what is going on.

She watches Alice step closer to her, so close that their bodies are barely touching. The fine hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She's on edge, but not exactly in a bad way…

"Do you feel it?" Alice asks, staring intently up at Bella through her thick eyelashes.

Bella has a fleeting thought to ask Alice to clarify what exactly she means. It goes away as quickly as it came. She already knows. She knows what Alice is asking, describing in her question; it is the pull she feels towards Alice, the desire to be close to the vampire.

That… unexplainable _attraction_.

"I feel it too," Alice whispers fiercely.

And then the vampire leans up, closing the small distance between their bodies, the difference in their heights. Refreshingly cool lips press gently onto Bella's.

Alice kisses her.

 **A/N: Sorry guys. Long update with lots that happens for you... Thanks for the feedback. Sorry I can't respond to those of you that leave guest reviews :( but know that I appreciate you guys taking the time to read and leave feedback!**


	13. Chapter 12: Resistance

Chapter 12

The kiss is chaste, innocent as can possibly be between two supposedly mortal enemies.

A million different things run haphazardly through Bella's mind, rendering her unable to think with sound logic. Here she is, seemingly frozen in time and place, her lips touching with Alice's. Her body feels hot, the blood pumping so hard in her veins that she feels the liquid might spill out of her enclosed circulatory system and come through her eyes, the pores of her skin. She's wholly powerless to stop it; not that Bella can say she truly wants to anyway. She's kind of enjoying it…

It would be unfair for her to say that the kiss feels wrong, because it doesn't. She feels as if she should have kissed Alice a long time ago, years before she even physically met the spiky-haired vampire.

An eternity later, Alice pulls back from kissing her. An adoring smile forms on her lips, Bella swearing inwardly that it is the most beautiful one she has ever seen.

She leans down without really thinking, following Alice's lips. The floodgates have opened, the kiss having ignited so many things Bella has yet to understand inside of her. A warm feeling spreads through her, starting from her lips and rapidly reaches her fingertips, down to the very tips of her toes.

Now, all of a sudden, she has a craving for Alice that instantly Bella realizes will become insatiable. She wants to be closer to her. She has to be close to her. She wants to kiss her again. She _has_ to kiss her, feel her again.

Alice's index finger presses gently against her lips, effectively stopping her from leaning in more. She is tempted to swat her finger away and claim her lips anyway, but her respect for Alice's personal space prevails and she instead lets loose a low whine from the base of her throat. Alice can kiss her at will, but it is forbidden for Bella to do so? The notion seems hardly fair.

"Easy, Isabella," Alice says softly.

 _Absolutely pathetic, Swan,_ her inner voice calls to her, from deep in the recesses in her mind.

It helps in abating whatever chaos has established such tight control over her very being.

However, not kissing Alice allows for the vast majority of the thick fog to clear from her brain. The warm and fuzzy feeling that seems to center around her heart now partially recedes in strength. She lifts a hand to graze her own lips, regaining some of her composure. It had been as though she lost control of herself… Is that how vampires felt when they tasted human blood? Stripped powerless and burning for more?

It scares her that she would strongly consider gladly giving in to it.

"You feel it," Alice sounds so relieved, her face breaking out into a full grin, as if she just solved the one and only answer to a centuries old riddle.

"What did—" Bella feels winded suddenly, just like someone had taken a baseball bat and landed a clean hit on her back. Eyes growing wild as she stares at Alice, she runs a hand through her own hair. "What did you _do_?"

"I promise that it is nothing that I did," Alice sounds sincere. All Bella wants is to kiss her. "This is hard for me too."

"You _kissed_ me."

Alice appears taken aback at the accusation. "I'm sorry. But at the same time I'm not."

"Don't be sorry," Bella finds herself saying, before she can fully comprehend her own words. "I—" _wanted you to kiss me_. She finishes the rest of the sentence inside of her head. Alice motions for her to continue her train of thought.

"I can explain," Alice says when Bella makes it clear that she refuses to finish her incomplete statement. "But it would be better for me to do so at a later time."

"You have a lot of things you need to explain," Bella deadpans. She crosses her arms over her chest defensively.

The other girl hangs her head, shoulders slumping. "I know."

Bella fights the urge to comfort her. "Guess you better get to talking."

"Isabella, trust me when I say it's better saved for later," the same frustration Bella experiences flits across Alice's face for a brief moment. "I should return home for the night. Space should give us time to… _calm_ down."

Calm down. Right.

She's shaking. She wants to snap.

"Remember that I'm not human. Whatever you can explain isn't going to go over my head. I'm also not stupid."

"I would never—"

Bella signals for her to stop talking, a rage building up inside her, from deep inside her core. Frustration from no clear answers mixing with the sudden intense longing for Alice proves to be one hell of a concoction.

"Leave," the Hunter commands.

A stunned quality grips the delicate and beautiful features of Alice's face, moonlight reflects the vampire's initial hurt. Bella feels as if she's shot herself in the foot; she wants to comfort Alice, tell her she's sorry and envelop her into a hug. She still wants to kiss her. But she's still angry, seething even, when Alice does not move a single muscle to follow her command.

"Go ahead. Go!" her voice raises almost involuntarily. The night seems so quiet around her. "You want to kiss me, offer no explanation, and then fucking _leave_? That seems fair. Go right ahead."

Alice steps forward so that they're in the same position as earlier before the kiss. The smaller girl looks up at Bella, eyes so dark that Bella can hardly see the golden quality of her irises.

"Leave," Bella repeats. Her voice is shaky, lower than before. She balls her hands into fists at her sides, steeling her resolve. "And don't come back."

Long and tense seconds pass, the two maintaining their positions, the swirling emotions in their eyes. Alice sighs, her cold breath caressing Bella's cheeks.

"Okay, Isabella."

* * *

Bella wakes up early the next morning, groggy and entirely unrested. The sunlight streaming through her bedroom window is unwelcoming to her barely opened eyes, so she opts to keep them shut tight. She attempts to will herself back to sleep, to catch up on the sleep she had missed throughout the night from waking up every other hour. In her numerous bouts of wakeful consciousness, she had tossed and turned in her bed, unable to get comfortable. The mattress had seemed so unforgiving, her sheets scratched irritatingly at her skin.

It had been hell trying to get a good night's sleep.

She had kept replaying the kiss she shared with Alice, the conversation that followed afterward. Her conflicted emotions. Her overwhelming (dare she think or even say it) want for Alice. Her telling Alice to leave and not to come back…

And now part of her wants Alice to defy her wish, to show up on her doorstep uninvited.

The other part of her truly does want Alice gone – maybe then, she rationalizes, her problems would lessen.

But her biggest problem currently – Dan running off and missing – still remains. His absence has left a gaping hole in her heart. He is essentially her only friend, and by default her best friend. Now he's gone. She can't help but think she had pushed him away. It gnaws at her, eating away at her conscious. But she couldn't just go along with exterminating the Cullens. They hadn't really _done_ anything – they were good vampires as far as she could tell. Even the dead girl the police had found – Carlisle seemed genuine as he explained that it very well could have been vampire rogues. And she is not dumb or easily fooled, despite the outcomes of recent events. She knows she's a good Hunter, confident in her abilities.

With a quiet groan she rolls over so she rests on her side, back to the window. She doesn't want to get up, have to face the day. But she has to. Completely alone, with a dull ache sat just behind her eyes.

Throwing back the bed covers, she decides she will spend the day hopelessly searching for Dan.

Hopelessly, because she knows she won't be able to find him if he doesn't want to be found (when a good Hunter disappears, they are hardwired and trained to do so without a trace) – but she has to try. Giving up would be the absolute wrong thing to do. He's her best friend even though he ran away from her; had effectively given up on _her_.

She won't give up on him.

She has to try.

* * *

It's late afternoon when Bella calls off her own search for the day, her heart not sinking as far down in her chest because she had known her efforts would turn up fruitless. She had consumed just enough vampire blood to increase the amount of ground she could cover, but it had worn off just as she began winding down her search. She had skipped breakfast in her eagerness to get out of the empty house, and then she had spent hours upon hours scouring the forest around Forks; she had known that there was nearly endless greenery and forest around the tiny town, but she never understood just _how_ endless. The amount of untouched nature present was abundant.

Defeated and positively starving, she starts back for the house.

When she steps through the tree line, she can't help but to irrationally hope that Alice's Porsche would be parked on the street. She hopes for the pixie-haired vampire to be perched on the edge of her porch.

With a sharp line of sight of her own house, she sees there's no Alice.

"Get yourself together, Swan," she mutters darkly to herself, willing that crushed feeling away. She moves across the grass, across the street, her footsteps heavy and requiring diligent effort as she makes her way to her empty home.

Once inside, she prepares something for her to eat. When it's done and plated, she lifts a fork to her mouth, the food touching her tongue tasting relatively bland. A few bites of food later a sudden rush of anger comes over her and she flings the fork into one of the walls in the living room, the silverware puncturing the plaster and remaining there. She tosses the bowl into the trash, still halfway full of edible contents, ceramic and all.

She hates this helpless feeling of loneliness.

* * *

The next day, Bella doesn't search for Dan. To prevent her mind from preoccupying itself with the hurt of his absence and the lack of Alice in her life, she decides it's best to be productive – she decides to try to get more information on their vampire hunt here in Forks. Besides, if the Cullens really weren't killing people, then _who_ or _what_ could be? It would be good information to have.

She heads down to the police station. She tells the receptionist who greets her that she just wants to speak to one of the officers about a safety concern. The older woman eagerly fulfills her request, smiling all the way.

Soon Officer Lankin comes from the back. He greets her with a smile from underneath his dark mustache, and the gesture vaguely reminds Bella of her father.

"Hey, kid," he says. "You're here and not dialing 911, so I'm guessing there are no emergencies. What's up?"

"No emergencies," Bella affirms. "I just noticed some weird stuff lately. Makes me a little concerned."

He adjusts his duty belt, eyebrows rising in intrigue. "Oh? Like what?"

"Just things," Bella says lamely, shrugging. She has to think of a sufficient lie… "But mostly I just feel like I'm being watched all the time. And I've seen shadowy figures."

 _It isn't a total lie_ , Bella reminds herself.

"You and the rest of the people here," he grunts. "Whole town's seemed to be on edge lately. Could be that missing boy…"

"Missing boy?"

"Michael Newton. Blond hair, blue eyes, kind of tall. He plays football for the high school. You've probably seen him around. He disappeared a couple days ago, you haven't heard about it?"

Bella detects the subtle suspiciousness rooted in his words. "Oh, yeah, I have. Have there been any updates? Anything new?"

 _Total lie. And how did I miss this?_ Bella thinks. She's completely thrown off her game.

"Nothing yet. Kinda frustrating."

"I could imagine."

He nods once. "I hope we find him. But otherwise, nothing else has happened. Is there anything else you need?"

She shakes her head slowly. "No, thank you for speaking with me."

"No problem at all," Officer Lankin says, his shoulder turning as he begins to angle himself to walk into the back of the police headquarters. "And kid?"

"Yes?"

"Stay safe."

Bella is a little taken aback by his words, but nonetheless appreciates them. "Thanks. You too."

* * *

The _very_ next day, Bella opts for staying in her room, in her bed. She doesn't feel like moving, or thinking for that matter. She didn't get a very good night's sleep again – she spent most of it up and on her laptop, researching anything to do with a missing Michael Newton. Not much information was posted on the web, but she had read that there was an area wide search all the way up to Port Angeles for the missing teen.

She has a sneaking suspicion that vampires could be involved, but who? Rogues? Was someone making new vampires for a specific purpose? The possibilities were truly endless. She would need more information, more evidence.

But she could not muster up any serious motivation to carry out what she had sworn to do – to protect human lives from the evildoings of supernaturals, most specifically vampires. Suddenly the bracelet on her arm that serves to remind her of her family lineage, of her sacred duty, seems unbelievably heavy.

The dull ache behind her eyes had shifted to reside in her chest. A hollowness persists, and it has been eating her alive, from the inside, for the last few days. She could also feel a disturbing numbness in her fingertips, which has crept up her arm and has steadily made its way to the site of the emptiness in her chest.

She always had a special way of fucking things up with other people. Dan is gone. She could go searching for him, but all she would find is even more emptiness and another sunken heart.

Alice is gone.

And she could show up at the Cullen doorstep, absurdly demanding to see the petite vampire… but what happens if those feelings returned, stronger than before? Truthfully, they scare her, their intensity. At least they had abated in the last couple of days, and she doesn't know what she would do if they all came rushing back suddenly if she saw Alice. She doesn't want them to assume total control of her body again.

She groans, hitting herself over the head – she's thinking again, and she had promised herself she wouldn't, that she would only give herself time to just simply exist.

There's a knock from downstairs at the front door. She stills completely, holding her breath. At first she believes it to be her imagination, but she sits up straight when the knock sounds again. Her tiny hairs stand on edge. Could it be Dan? Alice even? If not them, then _who_?

Regardless, even if it did turn out to be either one of them, she reaches under her pillow for a vial of blood and a sleek handgun loaded with silver. Downing the blood, her thumb flicks the safety on the gun off. She cocks the handgun as she slides smoothly off the bed.

In case it does turn out to be some unwelcomed guest, she'd much rather her loneliness kill her than anything or anyone else.

Her feet carry her slowly and stealthily down the stairs, the handgun by her side. Fingers closing around the handle of the door, she braces herself before forcefully pulling it open.

On the other side, in all of her stunning glory, expressive shiny golden eyes, and ink black spiky hair stands Alice.

Bella's eyes widen as her mouth falls slack out of pure shock. The gun almost slides out of her hand and onto the ground, but her reflexes kick in, her hand tightening enough to keep possession of the firearm. A sense of overwhelming engulfs Bella, amplified by the vampire blood pumping through her system. Alice is here.

That hollow feeling in her chest dissolves into a butterfly that flutters wildly underneath her breastbone. Before she's able to fully register, her arm reaches out for Alice; she's pulling the girl into a firm hug. Despite the other girl's cold body temperature, Bella feels warm all over. Alice is here.

And then, her rational side catches up with her over flooding emotions. _Alice is here_.

Her body stiffens, her muscles growing tense. She pulls away from Alice at vampire speed and grips the handgun in her right hand tighter.

"I told you," Bella starts, voice disturbingly calm. She pushes hot air out of her nose, clenches her teeth as if she just remembered that she should be absolutely furious at the vampire for daring to show her beautiful face at her depressingly lonely home again. "I told you _not_ to come back."

Alice's face hardens, her golden eyes narrowing slightly.

"I'm sorry, Isabella," she says, her tone not sounding in the least apologetic.

Bella simply glares at her, conflicted between wanting to scream and kiss the other girl. "Why are you here?"

"I couldn't stay away."

The statement (which, Bella thinks, sounds more like some sort of confession) sends another warm tingle down the column of Bella's spine. She recognizes it as a pang of desire. She decides to ignore it as best she can. Focusing on the residual anger still bubbling under the surface, she waves the gun in front of Alice's face menacingly.

"I told you to shoo, go away, not to come back," Bella repeats, and she can feel the anger draining from her, being replaced with something else. "You're trespassing. Even by human laws I'd be justified in shooting you."

"I'm well aware of the laws of trespassing. I don't need a refresher, nor did I ask for one," Alice quips.

"Yeah, sure. That's why you're here, right? To show off your knowledge?"

Alice's red lips turn up into an easy and confident smirk. "It could very well be the reason. But the true question is, do you _really_ want me gone?"

"Uh, o-of course I do," the Hunter visibly falters.

"Do you really?"

"Yes."

One of Alice's hands grip the handle of the handgun, her cold skin covering Bella's and sending goosebumps up her forearm. Angling the business end of the gun towards her own forehead, the vampire pulls the gun closer until the barrel lightly touches the skin there.

"Shoot me," Alice directs. Golden eyes look up at Bella from either side and under the black barrel of the gun. "Pull the trigger; kill me, if you truly want me gone."

Bella freezes. She struggles to move her finger so that it hovers above the trigger.

"Go on," Alice encourages her, voice soft, caressing Bella's ears. "One bullet will rip through my skull, the silver paralyzing me. After, you can choose a way to properly dispose of me. Forever."

Her hand holding the gun shakes, her other balling into a fist at her side. She holds the handle of the firearm in a vicelike grip, a couple of veins in her hands popping with the effort. Her heart hammers, sending her blood mixed with vampire properties to the rest of her body. Sweat begins to bead on the nape of her neck. Her mind races with images of disposing of Alice's body, tossing it into a large crackling fire…

She begins lowering the gun, the barrel pointing at Alice's button nose. She can't do it. She wouldn't be able to kill her. She just can't.

Maintaining eye contact, brown eyes staring deeply into golden ones, Bella lowers the gun completely, returning it back to her side. She swiftly leans forward, pressing her own slightly chapped lips to Alice's chastely. After a moment, she forces herself to pull back, eyes closed. Her chest feels as though it's about to cave in at any moment's notice.

She's so confused. She's so fucked up. And she's on a continuing spiral downward with this girl; she's not sure she exactly wants to stop it. So why does she keep fighting it?

She doesn't know. What if this is all in her head?

 _So now all of a sudden you're crazy, Swan?_ her inner voice laughs at her.

Opening her eyes on a big exhale, Bella resumes eye contact. Alice stares at her, seemingly lost in thought, and Bella briefly wonders if the girl has fallen into one of those odd trancelike states.

"I knew you would not be able to do it. And that makes me happy," Alice announces suddenly, a broad smile crossing her face.

Bella offers a grimace in return. "Quite full of yourself, aren't you?"

"I have every right to be," the vampire says knowingly.

She scoffs at Alice, though inwardly she finds the girl's charm quite cute.

"You were right," Alice starts after a tense lull in the conversation. "The other night, you were completely right. I should not have done what I did and then run off without an explanation. It wasn't fair to you. I'm sorry for that."

Bella takes a moment to choose her next words carefully. "So do you plan on explaining yourself?"

"I do."

"I'm waiting. Let's hear it."

"But first—"

"No!" Bella roars, her blood instantly catching fire and turning her face angry red. She's waited long enough. Her patience is thin; she needs to know what's happening now because it she's unravelling at the seams. "Explain. _Now_."

Alice quirks a thin eyebrow, frowning at her. "I was going to ask if you would like to take a walk. You look as if you haven't had fresh air all day."

Bella's nostrils flare, and she feels a hint of shame at blowing up so spectacularly like that without letting the girl finish her statement.

"Fine," the Hunter says, relenting to the prospect of fresh air. Maybe it'll clear her head enough that she can make sense of whatever Alice has to tell her. "Let me get dressed."

 **A/N: Oof, I really sucked with review replies this time. In any case, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Bella's starting to lose her marbles, I know. ;)  
**


	14. Chapter 13: Improbable Explanations

Chapter 13

Bella changes out of her sleepwear into actual clothes – nothing more than a simple black shirt and dark wash jeans. She tucks the gun into the waistband of her jeans before descending the staircase, not quite willing to leave totally unarmed.

"Ready?" Alice asks her when she steps outside the front threshold of her home, onto the small porch, and locks the door behind her.

"As I'll ever be. Are we going any place in particular?"

"You'll see," the other girl says, and just as Bella opens her mouth to object, she continues. "And yes, I am well aware that you are not a fan of surprises."

Bella fixes her with her best glare of distrust, but she finds whatever has grown inside of her since she first kissed the vampire weakens the impact. Alice only smiles before turning around to lead Bella into the forest. Bella hesitates, seemingly marveling at the back of Alice's head, and then follows.

No words are exchanged between the two girls for a long time. Bella had caught up to Alice as soon as they had breached the tree line, walking beside her. Occasionally, Bella steals quick glances at Alice – and the brunette swears she can feel Alice doing the same. But Bella keeps her mouth closed, forces herself not to question it. Just like she doesn't question why they're walking at a snail's pace – Bella still has vampire blood running through her veins, and Alice is a vampire, so they're both very capable of moving at extreme speeds; she also doesn't question why Alice leads them so far into the woods – where were they going?

A flare of panic erupts inside of Bella. Could Alice be leading her into a trap? And could she really be stupid enough to fall for one? _Again_? Suddenly she becomes that much more aware of the cool metal pressing against her shirt at the small of her back.

As Bella prepares to call Alice out, the petite vampire stops abruptly and Bella crashes into her back. The tingles that immediately course through her are enough to drag her out of her panicky thoughts, force her to stumble backwards ungracefully.

"Sorry," she mutters, hot blood creeping up the back of her neck, towards the tip of her ears and the apples of her cheeks. She's not quite sure why she apologizes – for falling into this perfectly laid trap?

Alice tosses her a giggle that is oddly similar to wind chimes sounding in a light breeze. She gestures her hand to the greenery surrounding the both of them.

For the first time Bella notices that they have stepped out of the never-ending army of trees and shrubbery, and into a clearing.

The same beautiful clearing that Bella had first interacted with Alice. Alone.

"I thought it was fitting," Alice turns toward her fully, smiling. Her eyes crinkle at the corners adorably.

Bella's mind barely registers Alice's words, the hands of panic gripping at her thoughts once more; however, Bella's body is so aware of Alice, so receptive to her presence. To experience such polarizing things serves to up the intensity of her situation. She can't decide whether to stay or run away.

"Fitting? Sounds like you planned this," Bella can't keep the accusation out of her tone. "Either you have something profound to say or—"

"Don't finish that sentence," Alice cuts of her off menacingly. Her demeanor changes almost instantly.

"And why not?"

"Because I could never cause harm to you, Isabella! Even if I wanted to, I couldn't. But even if I could dream of it, I wouldn't."

Alice's nearly shouted words sends Bella into a few seconds of stunned silence. Her stomach seems to perform a series of back and front flips. That fluttery feeling returns inside of her chest, magnified. Her heart believes Alice, but her Hunter instincts refuse to wholly submit so easily.

"I know I agreed not to attack you or your family," Bella sighs. "But it's very difficult for me to trust you or any other vampire. It doesn't come naturally."

Alice looks as if she wants to reach out and touch Bella, to physically comfort her. However, she refrains. "What about romance?"

Bella, a little taken aback by the question, scrunches up her eyebrows in confusion and a bit of suspicion. "What?"

"Does romance come naturally to Hunters?"

"Uh, maybe? I don't know. It would depend on the um, Hunter I guess. What kind of question is that?"

"There isn't some lore or legend that surrounds finding that one person?" Alice ignores her question, and Bella gets the feeling that maybe it would be easier if she were just to answer the vampire's than to ask more of her own. After all, Bella _does_ want answers; she has a gut feeling that she's about to receive them.

"Like true love?" Bella clarifies, her stomach flopping some when Alice nods. "There's stories of Hunters claiming they've found their 'One.' Or mate, whatever you want to call it. I don't know of anyone personally who claims to have."

"And do you believe these stories?" Alice's eyes appear to be searching Bella's – for what exactly, Bella can't say she knows. But she has a feeling…

"I haven't given much thought to them."

Alice has a look of contemplation on her face, and it feels as though eternity and a half creeps by before she speaks again. She breaks eye contact, turning her head to the left to gaze into the greens and browns of the density of the trees and other plant life surrounding them.

"With vampires," she begins, her voice soft and holding a reflective quality. "It is the same with few differences. Our emotions are more intense than humans, our… desires far more primal. Underneath all the madness and bloodshed that engulfs most of us, there's a need to be attached."

Bella carefully watches the exquisite features of Alice's face. She appears so far away, as if reliving a slew of memories. Her hand itches with the want to touch her porcelain like cheek, bring her back to the present reality. But she listens instead.

"That's why we form covens, for the emotional closeness, among other things. Rogues do it too, on a smaller scale. They rarely wander alone for too long. But there's still another need. A need to have a person to call your own, to be your other half. A lot of vampires take up mates, other vampires they claim to be their true love – but usually it isn't exactly _true_ love."

Alice pauses, inhaling unnecessarily.

"True love is said to be found in the case of Soulmates. They're rare and not very many vampires know of it. Your soulmate is supposed to be the one you spend your eternity with," she snaps her head in Bella's direction, maintaining a tense and steady eye contact.

Bella swallows thickly, the fluttering in her chest becoming almost unbearable. "If it's so rare, how do you know?"

"It's said that an inexplicable bond forms when you meet your soulmate. It's more than an instant attraction, and it takes some time to develop fully. It's felt by both people."

Bella's head reels, her gaze travelling down to stare brokenly at the ground beneath her feet. She grips the fabric of the black shirt that sits above her fast beating heart.

She knows where this is going, she knows what Alice is implying. She can't say it out loud, can't force the question between her lips for Alice to hear. It couldn't be possible.

It just couldn't. It should be unfathomable.

Surely what she feels is just some sort of overwhelming, all-consuming attraction? A lust that should fizzle out soon, an infatuation that will dissolve itself in due time… why has it done nothing but strengthen?

A cold hand grips Bella's chin firmly but gently; it's a touch Bella feels like she's been living all this time just to experience. The coldness of the other girl's skin brings a wave of calm over her as Alice guides the Hunter's head to look at her.

"You feel it, I know you do. I've _seen_ it, I've _seen_ you," the vampire stresses the word 'seen,' leading Bella to believe that there's some other meaning behind the simple word. "I feel it. I've told you, I feel it too."

"What are you saying?" the question falls from Bella's mouth as a whisper. It's a dumb question – she knows the answer, she knows what Alice is going to say.

"You're my mate, Isabella. We're _soulmates_."

Those words are the answer – the reason – to this all-consuming attraction, this incredible desire to be closer to Alice.

Hearing those words spoken out loud hits Bella like a sack of cold and hard bricks. She opens her mouth to say something – anything – but her brain is too jumbled to come out with a coherent sentence. The shock grips her so tightly that the only thing she can comprehend is the slowly growing concern that enters Alice's eyes.

"Isabella?"

It isn't possible. How it could it be…

"You're lying to me," Bella hisses defensively, even as the pieces add up in the back of her brain. She runs her hands haphazardly through her hair and her heart pounds relentlessly in her chest.

"I wouldn't lie to you," the vampire tells her softly, comfortingly, and Bella wants to believe her. Oh, how she desperately wants to believe her.

The scariest thing is she thinks she can. She thinks she does, in fact, believe her.

"Stop it," she demands rather weakly. "Don't lie. This isn't possible."

The other girl reaches out to touch her but hesitates, thinking it's better to let her hand hover awkwardly between them and then dropping it. Her warm golden eyes kindle with a spark. "If not, then what could it be?"

"Not this," the Hunter responds quickly, but it's too desperate and lacks any significant backing. She gestures between herself and Alice. "This isn't possible," Bella says slowly, her own voice not convincing even to her own ears.

"Then what is?"

"Stop-"

"-I'm a vampire, and you hunt supernaturals such as myself. Tell me what isn't possible."

"Stop!" she takes a hesitant step back, away from Alice. Perhaps if she runs away in this very moment, this heavy feeling will vanish. Perhaps if she manages to put enough distance between the two of them, then whatever this apparent soulmate bond is will dissipate…

Yet deep down, she knows this all-consuming gravitation towards her won't go away no matter how much physical distance she puts between them.

Alice steps towards her, eyes and voice pleading for the Hunter to not bolt – to understand her, her words. "Please, just listen to me. I know I'm throwing you a curve ball—"

"How could it be possible?" Bella's lips spew her thoughts as they organize inside her head, jumbled and still reeling from shock. "I don't understand… I hunt vampires. I _kill_ vampires. Why would I find my m-mate in a _vampire_?"

She turns fully away from the raven-haired beauty and runs both her hands through her chestnut brown hair, sending the strands everywhere. Her breathing becomes shallow, as if she's about to begin hyperventilating at any given moment. Inwardly, she feels ridiculous – it makes all makes sense, follows with the stories she's been told about finding a true mate. Ultimately she should be elated – even if Alice is a vampire – but mentally she can't add it up.

Essentially, this goes against everything she stands for; her very identity as a Hunter, her place in the Order.

"If anything," her throat begins closing up but she ignores it. "If anything my mate should be another Hunter."

She expects an answer, some kind of retort. And she gets one, just not verbally.

Cold arms wrap around Bella's midsection from behind. She stiffens at first, the physical contact unexpected, but as Alice's body presses fully but lightly against her from behind she relaxes involuntarily. The small vampire presses the side of her face into Bella's back. A strange calmness washes over Bella, and for the briefest of seconds she feels as if she were made for this exact moment.

And then she can see it, the sudden clarity of it, as if it's been there all along and she had just failed to properly notice it – Alice is her mate.

Alice is her One.

"It doesn't make much sense to me either," Alice confesses. Her lips move against Bella's back, her cold breath slightly chilling the fabric of her shirt. "And I don't mean to scare you away. But, like I said, I can't stay away from you. At least, not for long. I'm drawn to you."

Bella places a hand over one of Alice's, her throat threatening to close again as she admits what has been happening to her. "I'm… attracted to you too. Something pulls me to you. But I didn't—I didn't think it was _this_."

 _Turning into a fucking sap already_ , the voice in the back of her head chastises her. She wills it to shut up.

"I'm glad," Alice says quietly after a pause. "I'm so glad."

Bella turns around in Alice's hold, facing her so that she can wrap her own arms around the vampire's slight frame. Peace settles over her, and under that she can feel a sort of happiness. Blissful completion, perhaps. The thought seems scary to her, but as her face touches the softness of Alice's spiky black hair, she thinks maybe she really could get used to the idea of having found her supposed other half…

They stay like that, holding each other, and Bella isn't completely certain how much time passes.

"Isabella?" Alice asks, breaking the easy silence that has grown between them.

"Hm?"

Alice pulls back from the embrace just enough to look at the slightly taller girl. "May I kiss you?"

The odd timing of the question makes Bella think a bit before answering – the girl hadn't bothered asking a few nights ago. Why now?

"S-Sure," Bella says, outwardly hesitant but inwardly a little more than willing to be delivering her consent.

In an instant Alice closes the few inches of distance between them. The kiss is noticeably different from the previous ones – less chaste, Alice's lips move against Bella. Slowly, Bella's lips respond and quickly the kiss escalates in need and passion. They push closer to each other, and eventually Bella touches the tip of her tongue to Alice's. Electricity shoots from her mouth and down her spine, causing Bella to shudder violently.

Moments later, Alice breaks the kiss.

Bella's chest heaves, welcoming the fresh intake of air into her lungs, though she'd much rather inhale Alice's air. The hunger for her, the powerful desire to be closer to her, bubbles up from within her chest into the back of her throat. She stops herself from leaning in again, from claiming Alice's lips as her own.

Bella closes her eyes, ignoring the vampire blood humming through her veins. She manages to reign in her desires. Why did the urge to pounce the girl have to be so strong? Does Alice struggle as much as she does? The other girl always looks so much more under control…

That's when it hits Bella, snapping her eyes open. She gently detangles herself from Alice, stepping back about a foot – she kind of needs the space, even if just for a little bit.

"So, uh, we're … mates, right?" it's still hard for Bella to voice it, and she can only hope it gets better with time.

"We are," Alice affirms. Bella can almost hear the question interweaved into her words, shown on her pale pretty face: _What's wrong?_

"That doesn't mean we have to get married tomorrow, does it?"

Alice _laughs_.

A slice of annoyance twinges inside of Bella when she shows no signs of ceasing her laughter. "Hey!"

"Sorry, I'm sorry," she still giggles as if amused by some type of inside joke unknown to Bella. "No, we don't have to get married. In fact, considering the circumstances I thought it would be better if we took this one day at a time."

"I'm glad we're on the same page," Bella nods. She then squints her eyes. "But why do I get the feeling that you know more than you let on?"

Like a flipped switch, Alice goes from giggly to sheepish. She refuses to meet Bella's eye, and after a few tries of trying to catch the girl's eye, Bella takes Alice's face between her hands. She bends her knees a little to compensate for their minimal height distance.

"Hey," her voice is low and gentle, a stark contrast to how her voice had been earlier when she demanded answers from the vampire, suspected her of hiding things. "We're… mates. Talk to me."

"You might find it hard to believe."

"Try me," it's Bella's turn to chuckle now. "Come on, I hunt supernaturals. Believe me when I say I've seen my fair share of hard to believe."

Alice whines lowly. She removes Bella's warm hands from her cool face, holding them in hers. "I don't want you to find me strange. Or worse yet think I'm lying to you."

"Try me."

There's a distinct pause before Alice inhales deeply.

"I have a gift," she treads carefully, golden eyes narrowing slightly and obviously scrutinizing Bella's reaction to the statement. "I can see the future."

Bella's jaw falls slack as she stares unblinkingly at Alice, hearing her words but failing to truly comprehend them. She considers making Alice repeat herself so she can be sure that she heard the correct syntax of words. Dots begin to connect inside her head, and then her face lights up, as if she just found the cure to human cancer.

"You said you saw me," Bella says out loud, her thoughts spilling out into the open air between her and Alice. "And I got the impression… is that what you meant? That you saw me in the future?"

She nods, still looking apprehensive.

"And when you go uh, unresponsive – that's a part of your gift?"

"When I have a _vision_ , yes."

Bella carefully removes her hands from Alice's hold, choosing instead to place them on each of her small shoulders. "So when? How long ago did you see me?"

"Before you arrived in Forks," Alice says after taking a minute to answer. Looking into her eyes, Bella sees there's more to what she's saying, but she doesn't question it. She files it away in the back of her mind as something to ask about later, at a better time.

Bella falls silent, mulling over the new information in her head. She also wonders what could be the exact cause for the apprehension still prevalent on the features of Alice's face, but then the answer clicks in her brain too.

"When you showed up the day Daniel and I moved in…" Bella trails off. "You knew?"

Alice stares unblinkingly at her before answering in a roundabout way. "I've been waiting for you for a long time, Isabella."

Bella finds herself smiling easy at her words, somehow knowing if they fell from any other person's lips then she would have been put on edge. But Alice is her mate, and while she hasn't exactly answered her questions to the detail that she would have preferred, the exponentially growing bud of trust she has in her remains.

The smile Alice gives her in return is watery.

One of Bella's hands reaches up to lightly caress the vampire's lips, almost as if she were trying to wipe the apprehension that still prevails from her smile.

"The universe is crazy," Bella starts slowly, not at all sure if her words could be deemed appropriate for reassurance but decides to continue anyway. "You're a psychic. You're a vampire. You saw me before I even knew you existed. And you're my mate. What are the odds?"

Alice lightly wraps her fingers around Bella's hand that hovers above her lips and moves it so it's away from her face. She averts her gaze, any traces of a smile falling from her exquisite face.

"It is a lot of information to take in, I know," her voice is muted as she speaks, Bella having to strain a little just to hear the vampire clearly. "If you want some time to really process it, I can leave you alone."

"No!" Bella says quickly, managing to startle herself with how fast the automated response falls from her mouth. "No I—I wasn't—"

"I completely understand, truthfully. It _is_ a lot of information to digest—"

"Alice," Bella says sternly, cutting her off. "We just established that we're mates. You can't go running off now."

The vampire looks up at her. In the dying sunlight, her eyes seem even more captivating and beautiful, especially with that flicker of hope in their depths… Bella feels herself being sucked in, and she can't say she really wants to resist the feelings anymore. But to embrace them full on with no questions asked? She can't do that either.

Though, to adapt, she and Alice have to start somewhere at some point in time.

Bella sighs. "I just—stay, alright? I want you to stay. With me."

Alice's posture relaxes a bit but her face still possesses hints of anxiety. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I am," she affirms. "It's getting late. What do you say about coming back to the house with me? So I'm not processing all of this by my lonesome?"

The question tumbles out of Bella's lips before she can stop it. A small but especially devious smirk comes over Alice's features. Bella attempts to clarify her intentions through sputtering and the formation of a number of half words.

"Wait, no I didn't—damnit, I didn't mean it like that!"

Alice winks mischievously at her before posing a question that comes dangerously close to sapping the odd happiness that has settled in Bella's chest. "What about Daniel?"

"Don't worry about him," Bella says. In that single moment, Dan's abandonment coupled with the possibility of rogues preying on the innocent citizens of Forks completely hit her. Suddenly she feels exhausted and a tad bit overwhelmed, the swell of happiness in her dissipating.

Alice gives her a skeptical look, of which Bella chooses to ignore.

"Come on, I'm hungry."

* * *

"How old were you when you started cooking?"

Bella casts a glance over one of her shoulders as she turns to face the stove. Alice sits in one of the chairs at the small circular dining table in the kitchen, observing the Hunter as she prepares a small meal. Her elbows rest on the wooden surface, her arms folded and her attention completely on Bella.

"Maybe twelve or thirteen," Bella answers, shrugging a bit. "Someone had to."

Alice's eyebrows furrow. The crease that forms on her forehead almost compels Bella to stride over and kiss her, but she resists. "Did your parents not cook for you?"

"My dad tried sometimes. He was usually busy doing other things though. What he fixed was never anything terribly special but it was something."

"What about your mother?"

She takes another glance at Alice over her shoulder. "She… wasn't around much."

There's a tense silence before Alice softly apologizes. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Bella retrieves a plate from one of the cabinets, and plates the pasta she had been cooking. She turns the stove off before setting her plate on the table and taking a seat directly across from the vampire. "I think it was every kid's dream to grow up on pizza anyway."

The pixie-like girl giggles, leans forward as Bella sits down. An amused smile remains on her face. "I bet."

"Speaking of parents, what about yours?"

Alice takes a minute to answer, seemingly completely absorbed in her thoughts. As Bella gets concerned that she had struck a chord with her question, she answers. "I don't remember them, unfortunately."

"Were you…?"

"Was I adopted? No. I don't remember my parents, or anything of my past after I was changed. I only know what I've read from my research into my human life."

Bella drops her fork into her food. "What? You just woke up and you were…?"

"A Newborn."

"That's—I've never heard of that. It must have been rough. I'm sorry," Bella says. She finds herself reaching for Alice before being totally aware of it.

"Don't be," Alice echoes the brunette's words. "From my findings I discovered my father was a pearl trader. He travelled a lot, so my mother stayed home. I had a sister, and my mother raised us both almost entirely by herself."

"She sounds like a strong woman," Bella smiles. "Do you happen to know what happened to your parents after you were… turned?"

"Not exactly. The trail goes cold after I was… presumed dead."

"Dead? As in turned?"

"No," Alice sighs. Her voice takes on a melodic downtrodden element, and her eyes flicker to stare at the table, avoiding Bella's efforts to catch her eye. "Not too long before I was turned my parents had me … committed to a mental institution. The date of my death on my tombstone matches the day I was committed."

Bella is floored, her jaw falling slack. Words escape her as her brain processes what comes from the vampire's pretty mouth, attempts to make sense of what her ears hear. What could possibly make her parents send her to an insane asylum—?

Alice leans across the table, gently closes Bella's mouth with her hand. A small smile graces her face, but the overall melancholy still remains. "I was sent there for my visions – I had them, even as a human. They were considered unnatural, so to speak. My father was very adamant that I had some untreatable mental condition."

A surge of protectiveness comes over Bella, along with a dosage of unbridled anger. Her hands ball into her fists, her teeth clenching. "So they just locked you away and pretended you were dead?"

"That's the gist of it."

"That's just a little inhumane, don't you think?"

"I will never agree with their choice, but I have learned and accepted that people fear what they don't understand."

Bella scoffs disbelievingly. "You were their daughter, not some rabid dog."

"The past is the past. Besides, they're gone now," Alice smiles sadly.

"Parents can't just throw their kids away," her own muttered words ring a bell of truth from within her, reminding her of her own absentee mother. It's not right for parents just to walk out on their kids, or to lock them up in a 'hospital' and throw away the key. She mentally recants any positive accolades towards Alice's parents – they were undeserving, far from winning any sort of points with Bella.

She also gets the hint that Alice doesn't wish to discuss this matter further – and Bella can't say she entirely disagrees; the topic of their conservation had turned from lighthearted to dark and heavy entirely too quickly. She has inkling that she's only just scratched the surface, and it makes her want to know more about the other girl. Everything, in fact. But she'll have to wait.

Mainly, she'll have to wait for time to pass. Secondly, she'll have to wait for her mind and Hunter instincts to align more with her heart. She's still fighting a war inside herself.

 _You did want an explanation, Swan_.

"Sorry I can't feed you," Bella changes the subject after a moment. She stands and carries her dish to the sink, feeling strangely nervous and self-conscious ( _You sound like a teenager, Swan,_ she berates herself) posing her next question. "Did you want to watch TV?"

"Gladly," Alice replies.

 **A/N: There we have it. Bella will still struggle and they still have a lot to go through together... Is their time limited? Is their bond fragile? What will it take to break their bond? Where's Dan? These are very important questions...**

 **I also want to take the time to tell you guys that I really appreciate you reading this far; someone had mentioned that it was a slow start, and I agree. Thank you, to each and every one of you. Things will continue to pick up.  
**

 **Leave your feedback. ;)**


	15. Chapter 14: Returned

Chapter 14

Bella wakes from her deep slumber with a start, her heart hammering wildly in her chest. She's gasping for breath, and sweat has accumulated on her temples and the small of her back. The graphic images of her dream flood her mind, a wave of embarrassment coming over her immediately.

She had been dreaming about Alice.

Specifically, she had been having a detailed sex dream about her mate, Alice.

Her mate.

Her heart gives another hard thump in her chest. Bella expels a long stream of air through her nose. She had found her mate; she had found her mate in a _vampire_. She can still feel the shock, the edges of her mind seemingly frayed from the near overload of information, of supposed sheer impossibilities. Was she lucky? Was she cursed? Sometimes it's completely impossible for her to tell.

She thinks back to the details of yesterday's events, the look in Alice's eyes that always seems to be present, and the feel of the beautiful vampire's cool lips on her own warm and slightly chapped ones. It seems so surreal, as if it all in itself was some grand and elaborate dream. But the strange combination of happiness… and _peace_ that rests within her chest, just under her breastbone and by her heart tells her otherwise. She had definitely found her mate.

 _You met her not too long ago and just discovered she was your mate_ , her mind chastises her. _Yet you already want to fuck her senseless. You've got your priorities down. Way to go, Swan._

Pulling herself out of her still bewildered thoughts, she pushes back the covers on the bed and moves to the bathroom to shower. Her stomach growls violently under the warm spray of the water, and after she's dried herself off and put on some clothes, she heads downstairs to fix herself something to eat.

As she prepares herself a simple sandwich, she can't stay out of her own head. Being in the kitchen reminds her of the conversation she had with Alice just the previous night. The sounds of the TV – left on after she had said goodbye to Alice and went upstairs to go to sleep – playing in the living room behind her reminds her of how she had Alice close on the couch, but not nearly close enough.

 _Bella is unsure as to how much time has passed since she and Alice sat down on the couch, watching some random movie on one the channels that Dan loves so much on the TV. They had sat in comfortable silence, observing the scripted events unfolding on the screen._

 _Then Alice scoots just a little closer, so that their thighs touch – but not really, just a faint whisper of fabric against fabric – and rests her head on Bella's left shoulder. Bella stiffens at first, but then gradually relaxes into the simple touch, Alice's light weight on her shoulder. She feels unbearably nervous, like some teenager on her first date. But the touch is nice, and reaffirms the nearly unbelievable fact that Alice is her mate. She doesn't think she will be able to get over the impossibility of it all soon. But she likes Alice's touch, perhaps, she fears, a little too much too soon…_

" _I'm not making you uncomfortable, am I?" Alice asks, shifting so she can look up at Bella. It's almost as if the little vampire read her mind._

" _N-No," Bella stammers - she's not uncomfortable, per se, so she's not lying._

" _Isabella—"_

" _I'm not uncomfortable, really," Bella affirms, her voice unwavering this time. She struggles for words to sum up how she's feeling without delving into specifics – she's still processing it all for herself. "I'm just new to this, the touching. Dan and I don't really touch. I mean, obviously we're not together, but still, yeah. We don't touch."_

 _Great, in all her effort of attempting to sum it up, she turns out looking like some blabbering fool._

 _Alice leans up to deliver a kiss on her too warm cheek. "I understand. Is this okay?"_

" _It's fine."_

 _A little more than fine, really. She can feel arousal stirring in the depths of her belly…_

When the movie finished, Alice announced that she would be leaving – she made it clear to Bella that she had intentions of coming back, if her suggestive wink was any indicator. If her leaving Bella her cell phone number, with a "You should have asked on day one," was any sort of additional indicator.

It's barely been half a day, and Bella is willing to admit to herself that she misses the other girl. She knows it's relatively pathetic, given the time they have known each other, the fact that they're supposed to be mortal enemies, but she can't exactly help herself. She wants to call her, just to hear the music notes in her voice.

She likes Alice, with her whimsical presence, her endearing smile, her expressive eyes—

Bella stiffens, the hairs rising on the back of her neck as she is abruptly extracted from her thoughts by the harsh turning of the handle of the front door. She draws one of the knives from the kitchen drawer – her real weapons are upstairs, and she curses her current lack of preparedness. She creeps to the front door as the handle turns harshly, butcher knife tightly gripped in her right hand, ready to spring a surprise attack on her intruder.

The door bursts open, and in comes Dan.

However, before she can fully recognize that it is in indeed Dan, she already has the sharp side of the blade pressed firmly to her partner's neck.

He stands there, arms at his sides as if he was expecting some form of physical attack all along, but had no desire to stop it.

"Glad to see you still got some skill," Dan quips, unfazed by the silver glint of the knife. A thin trickle of blood cascades down the column of his throat and disappears in the collar of his navy blue shirt.

With stunned and slightly disbelieving eyes, Bella takes in Dan's presence, his appearance. His hair is longer than his usual buzz cut, the strands appearing darker than usual. The five o-clock shadow he usually sports has grown out considerably, some of the hairs curling and threatening to form a true beard. (For some reason, she's reminded of the teenage version of Dan that barged into her house in much the same way, standing in much the same way, with tears running down his face and a burning hatred in his eyes.) She meets his hazel eyes, unable to completely read what is hiding in their depths, but relief finally washing over that he is ultimately _okay_.

Despite knowing that her previously missing partner is now here and unharmed, she grips the handle of the kitchen knife until her hand trembles, her knuckles going white. Her other hand moves to fist the shirt material over Dan's chest, maintaining a trembling grip there too.

Startlingly blind rage consumes her in an instant. In one motion she throws the knife towards the floor, the blade sticking in between two floorboards with deadly accuracy, and pushes him back through the threshold of the front door. How dare he just show up, completely unannounced and out of the blue? She had been so worried about him – he couldn't have at least given her some kind of indication that he was okay?

And here he is, _joking._

"Where—Where the _fuck_ have you been?" Bella pushes out through clenched teeth.

"Easy, Bells," Dan attempts to placate her.

She takes a single dangerous step towards him, pointing an accusing finger towards his chest. "Don't you dare call me that. _Where have you been_ , Dan?"

"Let me in the house," he says evenly. "I can explain."

Bella wants nothing more than to draw back and hit him across his face as hard as she can possibly manage. She wants to drag him to the ground and completely pummel him. She wants to break his nose, his arms, and his legs. She wants to make him bleed more. She's shaking with so much anger induced from the incessant worrying she has been subjected to the past few days. She can barely contain it.

She wants to kill him just out of spite.

She stifles her violent urges to step aside enough to let him into the house. She crosses her arms over her chest, fixing him with a glare that could kill him in this life and the next. "What reason could there be to just up and leave your partner without a word?"

Something in Dan appears to snap as he slams the door shut behind him and fixes Bella with an equally deadly glare. "When a partner won't do her job."

"I saved your life. You have no right," she reminds him coldly.

"You could be saving mine and others by killing the Cullens."

"Don't give me that. Did you come back just to argue the same useless point again?"

He snorts, runs both his hands through his hair, and turns away from Bella. She can hear him taking several deep breaths, a deliberate effort to compose himself. "You know, a lot has been happening."

"When did you figure that out?"

"Okay, Bella. I'm sorry, whatever. I was mad, I left, and I shouldn't have done it, okay? But you wanna know where I've been? Hear me out at least," he turns around to face her again.

The apology hardly repairs the damage that has already been done but Bella simply nods for him to continue. She's still seeing red at the corners of her vision, a product of her intense anger directed at Dan, but she pushes it down further. It still spills off of her in waves, in her posture, in her tone – Dan can _see_ it, she is absolutely sure of it.

He exhales sharply. "I was with the shapeshifters."

"The—you _what_?"

"I was with the shapeshifters," Dan repeats. He holds up a hand for her to cease any questions from flying from her mouth (and very begrudgingly, she holds off for now). "I found my One. I found my mate."

"You found your mate," Bella deadpans, repeating his statement in a monotone. "In a shapeshifter."

 _Coincidence?_ Her mind whispers to her, and she's inclined to agree, but she quite literally bites her tongue before she says anything further.

"Yeah," Dan flares his nose, defensiveness shining brightly in his tone. He looks Bella in the eye, squaring his shoulders.

"They tried to _kill_ us."

"Yeah," he says again, more shortly this time – he appears to have given up on keeping Bella silent. "You remember what I told you about me running into them before that?"

Bella nods curtly – while still unbelievably angry, her mind attempts to accurately process, to make sense of the words spewing from Dan's treacherous mouth.

"The wolf I told you about, the first one – that was her. Her name is Leah. She didn't try to attack me, well at first she did and then she imprinted – that's what they call it – on me. It affected me too," he pauses, remembering. "When I went out to do whatever, I would also go back and see her. I couldn't stay away. When me and you fought I ran to her. And then she told me everything."

Bella takes it in as best she can, but the sting of abandonment is still so fresh in her mind. "So you trust _Leah_ enough to believe this imprinting?"

"She's my mate, Bella."

She sneers. Over all the hurt she can feel the ever slightest hint of the green of jealousy creeping in. Did Dan think he could replace her? She is his partner, and they swore an oath together. And so soon…

It reminds her of that poor human girl, Melanie.

"You didn't answer my question. Do you trust her?"

"I believe Leah," Dan bristles. He visibly falters but after a brief second a resolute determination enters his eyes. "I love her."

He trusts her.

He loves her.

He already trusts and loves this _Leah_.

He's lost his mind, Bella is sure. Love does not come so soon – infatuation, but surely not love. Her mind readily drifts to Alice. She struggles to force it back on the task at hand, to form some type of rebuttal. _You only think you love her_ , she wants to yell at him.

There's no way he could just magically fall in love with this mysterious shapeshifter… it has to be a lie he's convinced himself of. But if he was lying to himself, why would he? Unless he was manipulating her, using this mysterious shapeshifter in much the same way he did Melanie…

Her mouth twitches with the intent to tell Dan that this shapeshifter could be manipulating him – it's only been a few days, after all – but the accusing word _hypocrite_ whispers consistently in the back of her brain.

Dan seems satisfied with her lack of outward response, so he continues. "We know the shapeshifters don't like the Cullens. So I came up with a plan. You know, the whole 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' kind of thing?"

"The Cullens aren't our enemies," Bella retorts hotly. _Alice is_ my _mate_. And now that he's mentioning this plan with such fervor, she's having trouble believing that Leah is actually his as well.

He ignores her. "I told Leah and her pack about the dead girl and all the other evidence we found. I told them they should help us in killing the Cullens."

"No," she finds herself saying before she can really think about it.

The sheer thought of harm being brought onto Alice set her blood afire again. It's the only word she can grind out between her clenched teeth. The red seeps into her vision again and she feels as though she could rip Dan apart without the aid of the effects of ingested vampire blood, with just her unyielding rage and bare hands.

Dan rolls his eyes before fixing a hard glare on Bella. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

She meets hazel eyes with fire in her own dark brown. "They didn't kill the girl. You can't do that."

"There ya go again. Defending the things we swore to fucking kill. What gives? Seriously."

"It's the rogues. They're the ones killing people around here," Bella says with conviction. The Cullens are innocent… Alice is innocent. Why is Dan so goddamn stubborn?

"The rogues," Dan makes a flippant motion with his hands. He then runs a hand through his hair for the umpteenth time. "Yeah, okay, the wolves said something about them creeping on their land the last few weeks. And I'll admit, the pack is split on dealing with the rogues first or the Cullens. But, you know, I could convince them to gun straight for the Cullens."

"It's the _rogues_. If anything you should be 'convincing' them to kill the—"

"What if we could kill the rogues and the Cullens?"

"The Cullen's haven't—"

"No! Listen to me! We could just kill two birds with one stone. I mean, we would have the help of the pack," he cuts her off, sudden realization coming to him. Excitement laces the tone of his voice. He steps forward, blatantly violating Bella's private space, ignorant to how she turns rigid when he grabs both of her upper arms in childlike enthusiasm.

"It's perfect. If we have the pack we can kill all the bastards," he says, punctuating his words with little shakes to Bella's frame. "It would be so easy, you know?"

Bella can do little more than draw up a grimace at the irony that her partner has devised some kind of 'mastermind' plan to kill her mate. It only serves to stoke the fire of her anger, of which she barely has back under control for an uncountable time now.

It also asserts the notion that he's using his natural charm to manipulate this Leah girl. How could he be so sure of what an imprint is if neither one of them have experienced it before? Why is he so infatuated with his devised plan to eliminate the Cullens over finding his One? The pieces of this puzzle aren't exactly coming together, and she reluctantly suspects he could be lying about select details – enough to pass as the truth, while attempting to garner both her and this shapeshifter's pack support.

 _There's still not a lot of evidence to go off_ , she reminds herself. Bella wants to give her partner the benefit of the doubt.

Nonetheless she peels his hands off of her arms with disapproval written all over her tone. "That's absurd, Dan."

She can see whatever front of self-control he has put on quickly vanishing. She watches his hand draw back slowly, it opening and clenching multiple times – if she were anyone else, he probably would have hit them.

"How?" he barks.

At this point, she's so doubtful that anything she could say would make him change his mind. She wishes his hatred for vampires didn't run so deep, made him so blind to the truth – especially the truth that Alice is her mate.

Not that she thinks she could disclose that fact to him – at least, not now.

In her moment of faltering, he manages to genuinely shock Bella. "You know what? I understand," he moves away from her, throwing his hands up in exasperation. "It's always been just you and me. After Jaden. We never used outside help to really do the job and this is the first time. So I get it."

"No, Dan," Bella sighs heavily. She pinches the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes momentarily. "I don't think you do."

" _I_ think I do," he fires back. He moves in the direction of the stairs, climbing them swiftly, feet thudding heavily against the worn floorboards.

"Where are you going?"

Bella follows him, and stopping at the bottom of the steps hears the openings and closings of various drawers, the clinking of weapons. A door slams shut, rattling its frame. Dan reappears at the top of the stairs, his features twisted into a dark scowl. He carries some of his weapons in his arms, vials of blood in a pouch that sits on his right hip.

"I'm going back to Leah," he finally answers her question. "You're obviously not the same Bella I once knew. But, you know, because you're my damned partner I'll give you a few more days to put your fucking head on straight."

"So you're just running away? Again?"

"I'm going back to my _mate_!" he roars. He pushes past Bella, his shoulder forcefully colliding with hers as he stalks his way to the front door of the house.

"Coward," she hisses, whirling around to shoot daggers with her squinted eyes at him. "I hope you have all the time in the world with your _mate_."

"You wouldn't understand," he pulls open the door.

" _I_ do understand," Bella replies cryptically, a devilish smirk making its way across her lips despite herself as a certain stunning pixie-like vampire springs forth in her mind's eye. "You on the other hand," she trails off.

The last look Dan casts over his shoulder at her is one mostly filled with suspicion – and perhaps, if Bella looks closely enough, a little bit of betrayal. He slams the door shut, the frame rattling in much the same way as the door upstairs.

Just like that, in the single blink of an eye, Dan is gone from her vision.

But he isn't _gone_.

Not yet.

Refusing to be left behind like some too-obedient dog, the female Hunter's legs spur into rapid action. She throws herself at the front door, wrenching it open with impressive strength.

Dan walks across the street, his back to her, but the brunette can tell by the excessive squaring of his shoulders that he had heard her step outside.

"You really are being a coward," she spits at his back, trailing him.

He stops abruptly on the other side of the street, standing in the brilliantly green grass. His shoulders rise and then droop as he heaves a heavy sigh. "Go back inside, Bella."

"No."

She watches him turn halfway around, enough to leverage a dark glare at her. "Go back inside."

"No," Bella crosses the street, teeth bared and eyes glistening with a hurt she refuses to acknowledge out loud. "I'm coming with you."

"Fat chance ya are."

"We're a team, Daniel. Don't put damn shifters before me."

Hazel eyes ignite with a fire. "That's you," he points a deliberate, accusing finger at Bella's chest. "Only with fuckin' vampires! I'm doing the right thing. There's something wrong with you."

"Something wrong with me?" she laughs bitterly. "Or are _you_ hiding something?"

"Quit tryin—"

"Are you scared I can convince them that attacking the Cullens is foolish? Put doubt into Leah's head that you're actually mates?"

At this his nostrils flare dangerously. Reaching out, he roughly grabs her arm and pulls her towards him. He then swings her around, pushing her through the trees. "Shut the fuck up, Bella," he snarls. "You sound so fucking stupid defending vampires."

"Seems to be your only argument."

"Be smart, Bella. Have ya sniffed yourself? You smell like fuckin' vampire, you know. You really think they're gonna listen to your bullshit, smelling like the enemy?" Dan gets close to her face. "Lemme answer that for ya: no, no, and _hell_ no! They'll fucking kill you and then you compromise the whole mission," he brushes past her for a second time. "I don't know what's wrong with you. But you know you need to get it together. Stay here, do recon or some shit. Fix whatever is fucked up with you."

And with those words, he's gone, leaving Bella with her curled up angry fists and a heart that begins tearing itself into two opposing halves.

 **A/N: A storm might be on the horizon...**

 **Thank you for reading.**


	16. Chapter 15: History and Secrets

A couple hours pass by and Bella finds herself staring for the umpteenth time at the screen of her phone. So many thoughts have passed through her mind, she couldn't even begin to hope to count how many, or trace her train of thought from the beginning. Loneliness gripped her tightly about an hour after Dan's second departure, when the initial hurt and flares of anger died down to a slow burning in the pit of her stomach.

If she were completely honest to herself, to keep the crushing loneliness away she would just call Alice. She would just dial Alice's number, beg her to come over, and lay out all her burdens on the girl.

But she has a little more pride than that – in addition, she strongly believes that just because Alice is her mate doesn't mean she has to share her burdens, her demons. The little vampire only deserves happiness, she believes, not to be weighed down with troubles that are not even hers.

So she stares at her phone for an insurable amount of time, debating with her own selfless and selfish desires whether to call Alice's number.

Before she is cognizant of her actions, her thumb has hit the button to call Alice. It barely rings once before the ringing is cut off.

"Hello?" Alice's voice floats through the receiver to Bella's ear, and for some strange reason all the Hunter can do is sigh with relief.

"Hello? Isabella?" Alice sounds slightly worried, and a twinge of guilt pangs in Bella's stomach.

"Yeah, it's me," Bella closes her eyes… she should have never called Alice if she couldn't even think of what she was going to say.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she attempts to assure her, but she fails to sound convincing, even to herself. "Do you mind…" she falters in her next words, not wanting to seem needy but just wanting Alice here where she can see and feel her all the same. "Do you mind coming over?"

"Of course not. I'll be right over."

Once the line is cut, Bella doesn't have to wait long. Soon there's a solid rap of knuckles on the outside of her front door, and she wastes no time in pulling it open. She pulls Alice inside the house, her hand wrapped around a cold wrist. Possessiveness comes over her then, and she crashes her lips to Alice's; the vampire hesitates in returning the desperate kiss.

When they break apart on account of Bella's need for oxygen, Bella angles her head away from Alice and towards the floor. Sudden, momentary shame overcomes her.

"Sorry."

Alice's nostrils flare – and Bella realizes she's probably picked up on the remnants of Dan's scent. "Are you sure everything is okay?"

"Well," the brunette pauses. "You probably guessed it," she forces her shoulders to relax as she meets Alice's golden irises. "Dan came back."

"Did he hurt you?"

 _Not physically_ , Bella thinks dryly, her gaze trailing from Alice's once more. One of her hands curl into a fist at her side, leftover from the exploding anger she possessed in such infinite amounts earlier in the day. How could she let him get away with hurting her for a second time? She just let him walk out of the house easily, again.

She should have stopped him.

Now he's back, going further on his course of merciless killing. He's back conspiring with his new mate and her shapeshifting wolf pack. He's back, actively contriving a plan to kill Alice.

Yes, she should have stopped him.

Chilly hands cup each side of her face, interrupting her thoughts and directing her field of vision towards the exquisite features of Alice's face.

"Did he hurt you, Isabella?" her words are icy, and she can't help but let the shiver the dangerousness laced in the other's girl run down her spine.

And then, (strangely, even for her) Bella laughs, the sound scathingly bitter to her own ears, "Not in the way you think."

A low dangerous growl emits from Alice – and it takes Bella a couple of seconds to actually realize that _Alice_ is indeed growling. It takes her another couple of seconds to remember that Alice is a vampire – though a small, adorable, completely likeable one, but a vampire nonetheless – and that they are deeply territorial. Especially over those that they consider their mates; most likely even more so over those that are their soulmates.

"We just… exchanged words," Bella hastily puts together words. She knows that Alice has superb self-control, witnessed it firsthand. But she's also fully aware that vampires lose themselves disturbingly easily to their inner instincts, their enhanced emotions, no matter how much self-control they have gathered over their long lifetimes.

"I understand he's your friend," Alice's voice is rougher than usual, the soft lines of her pretty face hardened by a barely contained anger. "But he doesn't just get to hurt you, emotionally or physically and simply… get away with it. I'd find him, even if he's on the complete other side of the earth."

Bella effortlessly reads in between the lines, the hidden meaning swift to connect in her mind – _Alice would kill Dan_.

Alice would kill Dan for hurting her.

The declaration is no doubt shocking to Bella, who blanches at the sentiment of her best friend and partner dying at the hands of her vampire mate, but on some level she already knew this. Whether it had derived from her extensive knowledge of vampires or her growing knowledge of Alice in general, she has no sure way of knowing. But she'd already know that Alice would do something so… drastic for her.

A little whisper in her inner ear tells her that she would do the same for Alice, but she chooses to ignore it in favor of the situation at hand.

"Dan is such a hothead. And terribly stubborn. We fight about a lot of things," Bella tries to assure the small vampire (and herself, for that matter) after a pregnant pause.

Another low rumble, an obvious indication of dissatisfaction, comes from Alice.

Bella risks a chaste kiss, bending down just a little to compensate for the slight height difference. She then moves to sit on the couch, hoping her action would invite Alice to do the same. After a few tense seconds Alice moves into her sight (which, at first, slightly startles Bella because she hadn't heard any shuffling movement).

And then, much to Bella's immediate surprise, Alice sits pointedly on her lap. The act, Bella realizes, serves more of a claim – though to no one in particular – more than anything else, a direct result of Alice's vampiric side. The Hunter's first instinct is to throw her off, but she fights it, forcing her immediate uncomfort out of the forefront of her mind. As Alice's frame settles so that she is sitting sideways on Bella's lap, the brunette hesitantly wraps her arms around the vampire's waist. Gradually relaxation seeps into her tense muscles, derived from the strange sense of peace and security in holding her mate close.

"I've known Dan a long time," the words fall easily from Bella's lips after some indiscernible amount of time. She has drifted faraway, lost in a land that is only occupied by her own memories. "I've known him my whole life, actually."

Alice leans against Bella fully, her face laying on her shoulder and so close to her neck that Bella can feel her exhales on the skin. The intimacy their position allows almost makes Bella choke. She pushes on, talking through her memories, not quite sure what exactly she is looking for. But she knows Alice will listen, and that's all that seems to matter.

And… she's sure she can trust Alice.

"Our dads were best friends, so I guess it was only natural that we'd be best friends too," the memories of her and Dan playing together as children are so vivid to Bella. "I was an only child, and he was like a brother to me. When my mom walked out on me and my dad, it was like his mom walked out too. He cried, even when he tried to tell me it would be okay."

Bella laughs at the memory, the big fat tears rolling down a young Dan's face.

"With every year we got closer. We cheated during school, trained for our turns in the Trials, played pranks, chased girls – whatever we did, we did it together. Our first time really being apart was when we were teenagers, during the Trials. The Wise Ones said they separated us because of our different lineages, but I'm pretty sure it was because they thought we'd find a way to compromise the process."

"The separation was new and it made the fun little competition we had between us grow into something more serious. We both got cocky. After the second trial, they put the rankings out – I was ahead of Dan by two. My head went through the roof. He was pissed," Bella sighs through her nose, her grip on Alice tightening unconsciously for what she's preparing to reveal.

"I got too cocky, too reckless. During my fourth and final trial, I abandoned basic protocol because we – me and Jaden – found the vampire quicker than anyone else had before. Jaden… he—he begged me to think it through. But I didn't. I got him killed and nearly myself as well."

Bella pauses as the memory floods her, momentarily released from a securely locked recess of her mind. She remembers the blood, blood that was both hers and Jaden's mixing on her skin, her clothes, the ground.

Alice had been tracing unguided patterns on the Hunter's collarbone; she stops to place a kiss to the skin that covers the slightly protruding bone. Bella barely suppresses the shiver the kiss pulls from her.

"I've noticed you always blame yourself for terrible things," she says, her voice somber. She resumes tracing nonsense patterns into Bella's skin.

Bella shakes her head, refusing to acknowledge Alice's statement. "It was my fault. Jaden died because of me, my actions. I failed the fourth trial. The Wise Ones were going to sentence me to death, without giving me a choice. Dan pleaded with them not to. He was the only one who still believed in me."

"How did he manage to convince them otherwise?"

Bella starts at the question before going for an obvious deflection. "What do you mean? He's my best friend."

"I'm eternally glad that you weren't sentenced to death," Alice begins, lifts her head from its position on Bella's shoulder. Golden eyes meet dark brown. "But I would imagine that these Wise Ones would be impartial. Unless he had a close relative that was a member, or some kind of very special point, I doubt his lone opinion could sway them."

"You're right," Bella acknowledges, attempts to buy herself some time to think – answering Alice's question would reveal information that was classified between herself and Dan. Could she betray him like that? Is it even truly betrayal if Alice is her mate, the one being chosen to be her other half by some twisted fate of the universe?

 _He has probably already blabbed on and on to_ Leah _about you, anyway,_ the thought sneers at her from the back of her mind.

… And besides, after all, she trusts Alice, right?

"Dan has a… connection to the Wise Ones. But just that alone wouldn't have been enough to save me from dying," Bella starts off slowly. The intensity of which Alice stares at her proves to be slightly distracting, so she squeezes her thighs closer together. "Dan had a half-brother. They had different moms, but the same dad. His half-brother's mom is a member of the Wise Ones."

"After my fourth trial, a couple days before Dan's fourth trial, Dan and his half-brother got attacked by two vampires. His half-brother was murdered, but Dan got away though he was injured and scarred, to say the least. He was considered too injured, too… mentally unstable to complete his fourth trial. So he was pretty much in the same boat that I was in."

Her mind brings forth the image of Dan standing on her doorstep – much like how he did earlier today –tears mixed with blood streaming down his teenage face. Behind all the hurt, shock, and fear she remembers the underlying hate in his eyes…

"The day I went to the hall to stand before the Wise Ones and receive my fate, Dan burst through the doors. As it turns out, one of the vampires that attacked Dan and his half-brother was the same one that killed Jaden. He testified on both my and his own behalf, saying that we were excellent Hunters and it would be a waste to throw us away. He begged them to give us a chance to set things right, to kill the vampire that caused all of this…"

Bella pauses to collect her steadily rising emotions. "And we did. We found him, we made him pay. It qualified as us passing our fourth trial. We became full Hunters and we've been partners ever since. So I don't get why h-he's just—why he tries—"

Alice gently touches her lips to Bella's in a chaste and innocent kiss. The vampire's cold fingers wipe away a single tear that Bella hadn't even known escaped from her eyes.

"I can understand why you're hurt," Alice speaks softly. Her hand cups one side of Bella's face, her cool thumb stroking the heated skin there. "You have a lot of history together. But that history doesn't give him an excuse to outright hurt you. I know you both are trained to kill vampires, but his hatred for my kind is… palpable and I see how that affects you too, Isabella."

 _There's more to it_ , Bella confesses internally. But Alice is right, she's completely right even without knowing the full picture. Dan's intense hatred for vampires, rooted in the brutal death of his half-brother, is truly beginning to drive them apart. And how could it not? He wants to inadvertently kill her mate, eradicate Alice ( _and_ her noble coven) from this world and leave Bella utterly alone. He's actively hatching a plan with his supposed shapeshifter mate…

She knows she should probably tell Alice, but she abstains – at least for the time being. With the sudden tiredness threatening to take her, she thinks that maybe she can come up with a solution on her own.

Instead, she leans into Alice's touch and whispers an apology.

"Oh, you have nothing to be sorry for," Alice comforts her.

 _I do,_ Bella thinks

She does.

* * *

"Dan's plotting to kill you and your family," Bella allows the words to fly past her lips the next morning, unable to hold back the truth from Alice anymore.

Keeping this small tidbit from her mate had proven exceedingly difficult. It was as though a pressure had been steadily building up inside of her, a pressure that she felt was suffocating. She had requested that Alice stay the night, out of a planted irrational fear that Alice's family couldn't adequately protect her should Dan actually attempt to bring to fruition his hastily put together plan.

Her guilty conscious had wreaked havoc on her mind after she fell asleep on the living room sofa; she experienced several nightmares – all depicting Dan killing Alice – that woke her up multiple times throughout the night. Alice had been there each time she woke with a start, a strangled yell, a gasping breath. She would stroke Bella's hair each time, whispering that it was alright and that it wasn't real. Bella had known that Alice wanted to know what terrorized her so, could effortlessly see the concern expressed deep within her golden eyes, but she couldn't bring herself to tell her. She'd just bring herself closer to the vampire, force herself back to sleep (which in hindsight, makes her feel worse because she knows that vampires can't sleep), and hope with futility that another nightmare didn't haunt her.

But when her sleep had been disturbed for a fifth time, bright sunlight had been streaming through the window, and Bella decided to just get up for the day. Alice had protested until Bella's stomach growled obnoxiously loud. As the Hunter moved to prep a breakfast, the raven-haired vampire had stopped her. She'd insisted that Bella sit at the kitchen table, even after Bella told her that it wasn't necessary.

"Just sit down and stay put, okay?" Alice had guided her over to one of the chairs and winked at her. "You didn't get good rest last night, and I'd have a fit if you burned yourself because of it. Besides, I need to brush up on my cooking – for the future, of course."

With that, and a chaste kiss to her forehead, Alice had used her vampire speed to flit about the kitchen and prep a breakfast consisting of eggs, bacon, and pancakes. She'd even brewed coffee. All the while, the pressure had been building inside of her, threatening to spill the uncovered truth to Alice

And then right after finishing the delicious breakfast her mate had prepared her she did.

Alice is raising a delicate brow at her words. "I think anyone could tell as much from the incident that occurred when I invited you both over for dinner."

"There's a bit more to the story," Bella confesses.

Alice eyes her carefully, and Bella fully expects her next words to be coated in suspicion accusation. However, all she can find is kindness, compassion, worry…

"Is this what's kept you from sleeping soundly?"

"Yes," Bella sucks in a deep breath. "Yesterday Dan claimed to have found his mate in one of the shapeshifters on the reservation."

The smaller girl lets loose a small gasp. "One of the wolves of La Push?"

"Her name is Leah," Bella nods. She feels caged, so she pushes herself to her feet and begins pacing around the kitchen. "He said he was going to try to convince her and the rest of the pack to kill the rogues and your family. I told him I refused to let such a thing happen, and he ran away back to Leah. But somehow, in my dreams he managed to… he managed to kill you."

Alice gathers Bella in her arms, effectively ceasing her pacing. Bella can't help but to feel weak, bearing such vulnerability. She feels needy, as if perhaps she's too attached to Alice. On some level it scares her, but on a totally different level she doesn't seem to care – in fact, she revels in it unabashedly, drawing some unknown strength from this special connection she shares with the vampire.

"I'm here and alive as I can possibly be," Alice assures her softly. "But a little over a century of living means I've had my fair share of… dangerous people after me. More often than not they've underestimated me."

"I'm sorry. I should've told you last night. I guess I, uh, just didn't want you to worry."

"Too late. I was already worried about _you_ ," the pixie-like vampire tilts her head up to give her a small playful smile before shaking her head. "However, I will not lie to you, Isabella. This is deeply troubling news – it concerns much more than me. My family's safety is at risk."

Bella sighs and very reluctantly detangles herself from Alice's embrace, turning her back to her to lean fully against the counter. "You're all innocent. You're just trying to coexist peacefully. I can't, I won't let him do this. It's wrong," she pauses to look down, keeping the rest of her thoughts to herself. _The wolves are collateral … and this Leah could be just a manipulated puppet…_

"This is dangerous," she can hear the frown in Alice's voice. "We have to tell Carlisle."

"I can stop him," Bella's rebuttal is quick, her jaw setting in resolute determination. _This is my problem, he's my partner._

If anyone, she believes in her ability to talk him out of his plan. She holds onto hope that he isn't totally blind from his ingrained hatred, that the desire to destroy vampires hasn't completely consumed his being. He can still be the Dan that she knows and loves, the Dan who can forget about revenge. As his partner, she won't let him spiral down and commit an act of evil. He's better than that, she's sure she can convince him. She has to be able to convince him.

"Isabella," her mate chastises her, as if she were reading her thoughts all this time. From her peripheral, Bella sees Alice taking up a similar leaning position on the counter space to her left and she has an inkling of what she's going to say next: _Don't blame yourself_.

And then she does say it, or at least some close variation of it: "There's no need for you to shoulder everything bad alone."

"It's just an empty threat. The shapeshifters aren't even convinced. I could talk him out of it."

"You said he has a plan. I think that goes past any kind of threat... and we should prepare."

"What if we tell Carlisle? We're basically sealing the deal for the start of a supernatural war between your family and the shifters. People are guaranteed to die then."

"And should the wolves attack without warning, while we are off guard? What happens then?"

Bella falters, runs a hand through her hair. She realizes how insane she must sound, but she's adamant that resorting to war or to even gearing up for a possible war should be the last option. "I'm sorry. If there's even the slightest chance I can talk him down without anyone getting hurt, then I'm going to take it. He's _my_ partner, after all." _I shouldn't have let this get out of hand_.

Bella turns enough to witness the deepening of Alice's frown marring her eloquent features. The disapproval in her melodic voice is evident. "You do not control his actions. Before you start, none of this is your fault. None of it."

Averting her gaze from the raven-haired vampire, she subsequently ignores her words. "Just… Carlisle can't know yet, okay? Let me at least talk to Dan first. I can fix this."

There's still reluctance in Alice's tone, as she says neither yes or no, but simply tells Bella, "Okay. I trust you."


	17. Chapter 16: Beauty in Jealousy

Chapter 16

Bella's eyes strain against the bright screen of her laptop. For the better part of an hour, maybe two (she can honestly say she isn't sure how much time has passed for certain) she has been searching through local databases for recent crimes in the greater area around Forks. She finds nothing substantial; most of the reported crimes involve matters such as property damage, varying degrees of larceny, and torts such as assault.

In fact, for the majority of her research time she finds herself mentally distracted.

Originally she had hoped that finding more evidence of rogues in the area would soothe her worrying mind. By being "productive" she had hoped, even briefly, she could forget that Dan had planned to ally himself with shapeshifters and instigate a war between two (three, is she includes her own species) supernatural species. She had even went as far as to hope that she could however briefly forget that she was the only one who could work out some peaceful solution, preventing the situation from escalating further. She'd hope she could forget the possibilities that could come true should she fail…

 _I trust you._

The words had come from the mouth of the vampire she desires to keep safe the most. She hadn't been expecting them, their sincerity. They had delivered a heavy weight onto her shoulders, one that suddenly became hard to bear. On top of the outbreak of war, failure would tear her completely apart from her partner and bring harm upon her mate…

She had shut down, a sense of unrelenting reality sweeping over her. She had wanted to get away from it, just for long enough to adequately collect herself. So she had sought a distraction that would also allow her to be productive.

But Alice's words had played on repeat in her head. Her brain had betrayed her, painting pictures of death and ruin. Sometimes Dan had been murdered at her hand or Alice got ripped apart by two wolves or somehow both Alice and Dan would wind up dead. Sometimes both the entirety of the shapeshifters and the Cullen coven would be annihilated; Dan would either snap back to "normal" or Bella would be the only one left standing in the wake of the destruction.

Bella looks over at Alice, who sits on the opposite end of the couch, reading one of her old books from the bookshelf.

In between her pessimistic thoughts, she had done this – glanced at Alice. She had taken in how her nose enhances the side profile of her face, how black and utterly soft the strands of her pixie-like hair appeared, and the alabaster whiteness of her skin. She would think about running her hands through the other girl's hair, kissing the tip of her nose before moving downwards to capture her lips, touching her skin all over.

And then she would have to force her libido down, clenching her teeth in slight agitation at how easily the vampire could consume her mind. She'd force her attention back to her research, only to have her thoughts go into overdrive again.

 _Why does Alice seem to trust me more readily that she should at this point? Does Alice not experience the same periodic conflict of instinct, cognition, and emotion? Why has she always been so patient, so understanding with me? Do her clairvoyant powers make this transition of finding her mate in a mortal enemy easier for her? What about her coven? Can I ever truly compete with them?_

Bella bites her lip. She is seemingly trapped in an endless cycle. She needs to break it. But when she closes her laptop forcefully in resolute preparation and Alice looks up slowly from the yellowing pages of the book, she chokes.

At the slight furrowing of black eyebrows, Bella clears her throat and tries again, pushes the continuation of her train of thought out loud: "How'd you meet your coven?"

There, she said it. She said something.

Alice smiles whimsically and the Hunter has to wonder whether she has seen this moment in one of her visions.

"Would you like the how or the when first?"

Bella pauses to think for a second, and also because she had been expecting Alice to counter with a more defensive question. "When."

"Hmm, I was alone for years after I woke up," she hums, contemplating. She sets the now closed book on the arm of the couch next to her. "A decade perhaps. I met Jasper first."

"He wasn't with your coven?"

Alice shakes her head. "After the vampire war of which he was forced to take part he simply roamed the southern states."

"So you found him in the south like a needle in a haystack?" sudden realization then dawns on the brunette and she snaps her fingers. "Wait—you _saw_ him didn't you?"

"My visions lead me right to him," the vampire affirms, nodding. "In truth, I'm actually glad I met him first, before the others. He allowed me to adjust to another's constant company."

"Sounds like you like him a lot," an irrational bout of jealousy surges from within Bella. She forces her narrowed gaze from Alice, to the smooth metallic top of her laptop; she places it slowly and carefully on the floor.

"I'm grateful for him."

"You guys had a thing?"

"We did," Alice replies tensely and Bella's jealousy rejoices in the reaction, however subtle. "But obviously he wasn't my _soulmate_."

Bella is not completely aware that she has scooted considerably closer to Alice's side of the couch. Bella's jealousy wants her to grab Alice's chin and say _Because he isn't me,_ but she manages to refrain. Golden eyes watch her closely as she struggles to push down the irrational emotion. But god does she want to kiss her, claim her red lips for her own and shove her tongue in her mouth. Alice is hers, and the more beastly side of her wants both the vampire and the Hunter to know it.

She does cave though, gives in enough to lean in quickly and kiss her mate hard. Alice responds instantaneously, her hand flying up to rest against the side of Bella's face. Her mouth moves against the brunette's with just as much fervor. Bella pushes closer to her, in an effort to dominate the kiss, to prove that she has a claim on Alice that no one else can possess. And Alice lets her.

The possessive kiss breaks when Alice tilts her head back enough that she exposes the column of her throat to Bella. Unmarred pale skin hypnotizes her, draws her in to lick her neck. The hum of pleasure that falls from the raven-haired girl's mouth spurs Bella to harness her sudden bout of possessiveness, kissing, sucking, and biting at the skin there.

"We had already found our coven when I first had my vision of you," the vampire says abruptly, the sound of her melodic speaking voice seemingly paralyzing Bella's assault on her neck. In one single graceful motion, Alice uses this momentary weakness to push her back and straddle her lap.

Bella stares at her, mesmerized by the stunning creature sitting astride either side of her legs. She immediately places her hands on the raven-haired girl's hips. Her jealousy gives way to a quick budding of arousal as Alice leans forward, with golden irises smoldering and cutting right to her core.

"I felt _this_ connection instantly. I knew whatever Jasper and I had," Bella tries to concentrate on her mate's words but finds it exceedingly difficult with their faces hovering mere inches apart – especially when the vampire pauses to nip playfully at her jawline, "paled in comparison."

"O-Oh yeah?" her jealousy abates; she's suddenly at a lost for what to say.

Alice nods before closing the short distance between their faces, kissing Bella with a searing passion that contrasts deliciously with her cool lips. Bella's hands tighten almost reflexively on her hips; one of Alice's hands stroke slowly through the brown locks of her hair. They kiss like that for long moments, only breaking to allow fresh air to fill Bella's desperate lungs

"I must say, I didn't have you pegged as the possessive type," Alice comments as her thumb softly traces the outline of Bella's lips.

Bella shrugs by way of explanation, restoring some of her self-control. She currently knows she's all over the place with her emotions, her wants. It's all still slightly mind reeling; one minute she loses control to this bond with Alice, the next she's in full control and partially resisting, questioning it.

The other girl smirks deviously as if she can sense her struggle.

"Don't worry, it's quite attractive."

With that, their mouths meet again, this time Bella more hesitant than before. Eventually she gives into the feel of it. After a while they break apart once more for Bella to breathe and it becomes almost an endless cycle that ups in intensity – a much more favorable cycle than the one the Hunter had subjected herself to earlier.

Eventually, after an unsure amount of time has passed, their shared passion turns more primal, coupled with a touch of desperation. Alice begins to fervently bite at Bella's bottom lip, the hand already in Bella's hair tightly fisting around a hefty handful of strands. Her back has arched slightly, bringing her chest close enough that their breasts just barely touch. Bella moves a hand up, pressing it against the vampire's lower back in an effort to bring her closer; the other has slipped down and under the raven-haired girl's shirt, fingers spread flat against the firm yet soft muscles of her belly. She can feel Alice's hips move downward periodically and each time, she meets her cants with her own subtle hip movement.

She gets the impression that Alice is giving into her more vampiric side. But despite having full awareness of what a vampire who has lost control is capable of, she'd be lying if she made the claim that the prospect of Alice unravelling (because of her) didn't turn her on.

Actually, she would be _completely_ and _utterly_ lying.

It scares her a little but she manages to stifle it just enough.

Swallowed by the thought of a completely naked Alice rutting needlessly against her, she groans lowly at a particularly harsh nip from Alice's sharp teeth. The sound seems to serve as Alice's cue to abruptly break away from the kiss (and Bella wants to groan at the sudden lack of contact as well).

"You didn't hurt me. I liked it," Bella attempts to assure her quickly. Unable to resist, she takes in the current sight of Alice. Her eyes have transformed from a warm gold to a nearly solid black, a direct testament to her aroused state. Her chest moves up and down rapidly, drawing in unnecessary oxygen and Bella is sure that if her heart still beat the vampire's cheeks would be flushed. She glances down, bites her own bottom lip at the visual reminder that Alice still straddles her (as if the gentle weight of the pixie-like girl on her lap was _not_ enough).

 _Did Jasper ever have her like this?_

The poisonous thought enters her mind before she can stop it. She manages in pushing the second surge of jealousy away before it totally obscures her judgment.

"I need—" Alice cuts herself off with a pleasurable sigh as Bella's hand travels further up her stomach, the tips of her fingers brushing just under the swell of her breast.

"To come back here? Yes," Bella quips invitingly, voice rough. Fuck, she's going to go insane with her own need if the girl doesn't resume kissing her.

"I need to hunt."

"Oh," Bella's eyes widen in mild embarrassment, the words hitting her like a ton of bricks, her arousal momentarily forgotten – she hopes she doesn't appear to be some kind of pushy, selfish asshole. Her hand retracts from under Alice's shirt. H "I'm sorry, I didn't—"

Alice's lips descend on hers.

"I should be the one apologizing," cool lips whisper against her own before moving to kiss an earlobe, "because I should be drinking you, if anything."

Bella's head falls and hits the back of the couch. She stifles another groan, wills away the filthy (yet terribly arousing) images that Alice's words conjure. She's halfway tempted to respond with an open invitation like _Well, why don't you?_ But instead she settles with something a tad more innocent, "My blood shouldn't be appealing."

Awareness enters Alice's dark eyes as she giggles and leans back on her haunches. "It could be. You wouldn't ever know."

The Hunter glares at her. Sliding off Bella's lap, the pixie-like girl laughs again. Her laughter coaxes the corners of Bella's lips to turn upward, the musical sound filling her with a mild degree of elatedness.

"Wait," Bella calls, giving into the growing part of her that doesn't want to be separated from her mate in any way. "Can I come with you?"

There's a pregnant pause. Alice's dark eyes hardly show any hint of their normal golden hue as she turns and gives the brunette a quizzical look. "You want to come and watch me hunt?"

Realization dawns on Bella – in its most plain form, she has just asked Alice she could bear witness to her draining a living creature of its life. Sure, it would not be a person but she's just asked to bear witness to the taking of a life… She's just made a fool out of herself for the second time, going from pushy to clingy in a five minute span. Parting her lips to recant her own request, to apologize and salvage any bit of the situation, she doesn't get a chance because Alice has beaten her in speaking first.

"I would have thought that you've already seen a lot of bloodshed in your line of work," Alice says gently, rising from the couch. "I usually only hunt with the others but if you want to come with me then I won't deny you."

"I don't have to watch you feed. I just…" She just what? She just wants to be with her? She just wants to watch her rip the throat out of some animal to spend more time with her?

 _Look at the real reasons, Swan_. Her inner choice chimes in chastising. _That primal side of her calls out to you. And not to mention you're afraid of letting her out of your sight in case Dan does find her and kill her._

Defeated mentally, Bella hangs her head.

Alice delivers a peck to one of her cheeks. "Come on."

Bella looks up at her and the other girl's features are so coaxing that she doesn't try to stop herself from standing and heading into the kitchen. She pulls open an inconspicuous drawer, retrieves a vial of blood and a small knife. She drinks the blood, her vision instantly becoming crisper and her muscles tensing with vampire strength and endurance within seconds.

When she turns around she halfway expects for Alice to question her, but she finds the girl simply waiting by the door.

"Ready?" The vampire inquires and at Bella's nod she smirks. "I hope you can keep up."

With that, she bolts out the door into the grey tinged but steadily dying light of the day. Stifling the brief flashback of Dan running away from her, Bella follows as they break the tree line at full vampire speed.

Bella admits that the feel of the cool earth on her naked feet is strangely soothing. She knows she has not consumed vampire blood in a while and the enhanced scent of the untouched forest around her, the blurring but brilliant shades of green and brown, and the various sounds of the wildlife are tantalizingly refreshing. However, she chooses to place all of her attention on the girl in front of her.

Her mate's movements are nothing short of absolutely graceful. She watches as Alice abruptly heads to the left, presumably having picked up a scent. She watches as her muscles move smoothly under her pale skin, her clothes, even as she gives in to her inner beast.

She simply observes as Alice leaps easily and rests on a tree branch; the vampire takes in her surroundings before hopping back down and resuming her hunt.

Alice makes another abrupt turn – and then Bella sees her acquired target the second before she jumps it.

The ambushed deer doesn't stand a semblance of a chance; Alice has pounced and snapped its neck much quicker than the thing could realize it was in danger. Bella stops and forces herself to completely look away once the other girl begins to feed (though she can still hear her draining the animal of its blood).

Bella's head stays angled away even after the sounds of Alice drinking have ceased – even though she's her mate, she doesn't think she could ever get used to the sound of a vampire feeding. Granted, her prey had been just an animal and even humans killed animals for food regularly… but to drain something completely of its life blood, a shiver always races down her spinal column at the mere notion of it.

Looking in Alice's direction, she expects to see the carcass of the deer. It's nowhere to be found and she notices Alice is a bit further away from her than she remembers. Perhaps she disposed of the body when she was not looking.

She briefly wonders how many times Alice has done this – fed and gotten rid of the evidence. Has she ever had to do it for a human?

She hopes not. But she knows she's being irrational. At some point in their undead lives, all vampires have succumb to the thirst for human blood. How could they not when it's in their very nature?

So, as Bella stares into vulnerable golden eyes that shine brighter than she's ever seen them, she still hopes not. She hopes the sweet, understanding, nurturing raven-haired pixie hasn't stained her hands and tongue with innocent blood. Her hopes clash violently with what she's already witnessed of Alice's other side, the sheer carnality that lurks within all vampires (and, she has come to believe over time, all supernaturals).

But she knows Alice isn't just another vampire – she's her one, her mate. She can accept her. She will accept her.

"You're beautiful," Bella confesses to her, closing the few yards between them. As the vampire blood thrums through her body, she wishes she could have chosen a better way to express it.

However, the small but genuine smile she receives makes her unspeakably happy she said anything at all.

 **A/N: Thank you guys! :D I know nothing much happened here, but it's some development in their relationship.**

 **Until next time!**


	18. Chapter 17: Time Passed

Chapter 17

The very next day, Bella begins to come to terms with the fact that she wouldn't exactly mind seeing Alice's smile for the next couple of months, years, decades, a couple hundred years.

Forever, even.

The idea is still fresh, and it still scares her. It scares her witless that she could want such a permanent thing after just a relatively short time. But from deep within her, no matter how much denial she exhibits on the surface, she wants to be able to see that smile for a very long time. She'd do so much to have the opportunity, she knows.

Or rather, she wants to be with Alice for a long time. Because although the vampire's smile is addicting, so is her laughter, the small crinkle in her eyes, the subtle lilt hidden in her voice, her mere presence.

Really, and ultimately, she just enjoys being around her. Being around Alice makes her feel better, feel more relaxed. If she had the opportunity she could talk and cuddle with Alice for days, weeks, even. Though her instincts are not fully adjusted to having a vampire mate, she feels natural with Alice. Time doesn't feel like it is even passing by.

Even as they sit on the couch, close together but not quite cuddling, talking about mundane little things (their pasts – at least, the "fun" parts of them) time is not even a passing thought to Bella. But, another fact does come to her mind…

"You should let me take you on a date," the Hunter announces during a comfortable lull in their conversation. The timing is poor, she already knows (she has a knack for it, it seems), but the fact that she hasn't done anything nice for Alice perturbs her. She's been leaning on, taking from the other girl this entire time…

"A date?" Alice quips, her eyes sparkling with distinct amusement. "I wasn't aware that we were dating."

Hot blood instantly races to and fills the brunette's cheeks. She angles her face away from Alice in favor of speaking to the floor.

"Well, you're my mate and I wanted to do something nice for you," Bella sets to explain herself, feeling a bit like a fool as she voices her reasoning out loud.

"I was kidding," the vampire reaches for a couple strands of brown hair, rolling them between her fingertips before leaning in to press a cool kiss against an inflamed cheek. "You are adorable when flustered."

Bella mumbles an almost incoherent thanks.

"A date isn't a necessity. Just having the opportunity to spend time with you is more than enough."

Alice's words nearly identically echo her earlier thoughts and draw her gaze back up to the vampire's beautiful face. She gives Bella an easy smile as their eyes make contact, genuineness radiating off of her. Bella pauses, wondering how she managed to get so lucky… besides the fact that her mate is a vampire, of course, but she finds that it has become easier and easier to overlook that small almost completely irrelevant detail.

"Still, I would want to…" Bella insists.

Alice's features school into an even softer expression and it makes Bella want to lean in and claim her lips.

"That's sweet of you," the raven-haired girl says before a more mischievous look comes over her. "But I'll have you know that I am from the 1920s, and this means I must be wine and dined at a five-star restaurant that carries only the finest food and most expensive wine."

"Noted. Though vampires can't eat food nor drink wine."

Alice sucks her teeth and crosses her arms over her chest playfully. "This changes nothing."

"Of course it doesn't," the Hunter laughs, the swell of happiness only growing in her chest. When's the last time she's felt like this, joking and feeling as if she were carefree? "Does this mean you agree to go on a date with me?"

"Only if you can live up to my expectations."

The Hunter smirks. "I think I can manage."

"Perfect," Alice all but purrs as she swoops in to steal a kiss from Bella's lips. Relishing in the feel of her chilly lips, Bella pulls Alice closer with a hand pressing on the back of her head. Alice obliges her silent request, swipes her tongue under the brunette's bottom lip.

When Bella willingly opens her mouth, Alice pulls back with mirth swimming all over her face. She runs a hand under the Hunter's jaw and Bella can't help but to lean into the lightness of her touch.

 _You're hopeless, Swan_ , the voice in the back of her head taunts. She chooses to ignore it.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news," Alice starts innocently, though the up down look she gives Bella is far from innocent. "But this means I have to go now."

Furrowing her brows, Bela frowns deeply and can't help the ill feeling that she's done something wrong, somehow crossed an unclear line.

"Wait, why? What's wrong? Did I do something?" the questions pour out her mouth, words almost blending together. Guilt begins to overcome her and she doesn't even know what she's done to drive Alice away yet.

Alice laughs. A layer of confusion forms over top of Bella's already presumed and established guilt. "My god, you really are adorable when worked up."

Bella's brows furrow further, the wrinkles in her forehead deepening into temporary grooves.

"Since you utterly insist on taking me on a date, I have no choice but to go home and ready myself, now do I?" the pixie like girl gestures down to herself.

"Ready yourself?"

"A change of clothes and the like."

"But you," Bella cuts herself off in favor of gesturing her own hands up and down Alice's body to emphasize her coming point. "You look _fine_."

"It's a date, Isabella! I can't go looking like this!" Alice admonishes, slapping her hands away and running at vampire speed towards the door. "I will be back before you can miss me."

"Wait!" Bella calls, and corners Alice against the door (though, she knows the other girl allows her to do this – without the added effects of vampire blood it's not as though Bella could keep up with her otherwise). The corners of her lips quirk up at the expression on her face, and the brunette leans down to close the short distance between their lips with a peck. She relents reluctantly. "Okay, you go do whatever. Be back in about an hour?"

With that, Alice gives Bella a mock salute that coaxes a genuine and gentle laugh from the brunette. She pulls the door open, and Alice takes off for home. Her hunter's eyesight follows her until she's out of her range. Once there's absolutely zero sign of her, Bella heart plummets in her chest, down to her ribcage – she's parted from her mate again.

It leaves her uneasy, especially when Dan's hostile threats echo in her mind for the umpteenth time. The weight of her reality chooses a terrible time to anchor her now – ideally, she should be excitedly planning the fairly impromptu date she convinced Alice to agree to.

Willing herself to focus on the present, instead of the chaotic uncertainty of the future, Bella moves upstairs to her bedroom. Pulling open her closet, she pokes her head inside. It isn't until now she realizes how little variety resides in her closet; she mostly owns t-shirts and jeans, with the occasional flannel and khakis haphazardly thrown into the mix.

Of what she knows of Alice, she has an inkling that showing up on a date in a black band t-shirt and ripped jeans would not go over exceptionally well with the girl…

She looks over to the other side of the closet, where her more dressy clothes reside. They're few, nothing more than necessary acquisitions over the years, and slightly too classy for her own tastes… But damn does she hate dressing up.

Sucking up her childish petulance, she plucks a blouse and a pair of slacks from their respective hangers. After she sets her picked outfit on her bed, her mind seizes her. Where should she even take Alice? What would Alice even like to do? At her own lack of answers, she realizes just how unprepared she is. Regret for her earlier impulsiveness seeps into her consciousness.

Sometimes she really loathes how Alice can reduce her to the thought process equivalent of a teenage human, mostly living in the moment and largely unseeing of the possible (negative) implications of the future. _How does she do it?_

And then, when she finally settles on continuing her thinking under the warm spray of the shower, the front door's lock clicks. Her head snaps to gauge the time on the digital clock that sits atop her nightstand. Barely ten minutes have passed since Alice departed from the house – it's entirely too early for her to have returned.

It could only be her partner returning for the second time.

Bella darts to the top of the stairs in time to see the door brutally kicked open. As the door rattles on its hinges, Dan steps inside. He's soaking wet – it must be raining outside now – and drips water on the floor. For the first time ever, Bella notices genuine uneasiness settling into her body from her partner's presence. A single hand balls into a fist at her side and she becomes acutely aware of the vial of blood in her back pocket, the sheathed knife strapped onto her lower leg.

"Time's up," fiery hazel eyes lock onto hers from the bottom of the staircase. "You clear your head enough to be my partner again?"

"I never stopped _being_ your partner," Bella retorts. His phrasing strikes a nerve; she struggles to keep her voice even.

"This mean you're finally seeing the light?"

Bella sighs, reaches up to pinch the bridge of her nose. "I don't think I'm the one who needs to see the light."

"Yeah, right. And you're still the Bella I don't know. Great."

Alice's words from the other day play back crystal clear to her; her words about Dan's anger becoming something dangerously close to tangible. Beginning to see clearly now, she realizes that he's letting his constant bloodthirsty need for revenge consume him – much like a vampire losing control over its burning thirst for human blood. He's giving in to it, and Bella won't just let him go.

She refuses to let him go.

But he cannot bring harm to Cullens, to her mate, under any circumstances. She won't allow it. She'll never allow it.

"No," Bella can't conceal the subtle sad quality of her voice. "You're becoming someone _I_ don't know."

The muscles in Dan's jaw work overtime, flexing dangerously. "Lemme guess, you're gonna go into how these stupid vampires are good and don't deserve to die?"

"It's not about that," though Bella would readily admit that half of it is – but is she really in the wrong for wanting her mate alive and well and believing in the nobility of the Cullen coven? Neither her mate nor her covenmates have harmed a human while residing in Forks. She can't directly convince Dan of that (and she should have realized that much earlier), but she can try another angle.

"Don't you realize what you're doing?"

His reaction comes fast. The paneling of the wall is smashed and totally ruined where Dan's fist collides with it in a flurry of movement.

"Don't you?" he nearly shouts, anger especially short today. What happened to the self-control he exhibited the last time he showed up unannounced? "Why defend them? What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"You don't see it, do you? You're starting an interspecies war, Dan. That's breaking one of the tenets, which is punishable by death," her voice is tight, evidence of her own struggle to keep her anger in check. Each time Dan asks what's wrong with her, she feels like exploding. She wants to scream back at him nothing is wrong, nothing is wrong in defending her innocent mate.

It takes all that she is to not just leap down the stairs, grab him, and yell that Alice is her mate and she has a right to defend her. It doesn't matter whether she's a vampire or not (or at least, Bella thinks, it shouldn't.)

From her perch on the top of the stairs, Bella sees the acknowledgement of her point's legitimacy in his eyes. Visibly faltering, he looks up at her defiantly. She halfway expects for him to fly up the stairs and take a shot at her face.

"I'll be doing the right thing," he grits out instead, self-affirmation firm in his tone as his entire frame shakes from his barely contained anger. "The Wise Ones would just have to understand."

Bella sighs again, pushing the air through her nose and steadying the tone in her voice – she has to try harder to convince him. "War causes unnecessary death. You'll be putting the lives of everyone in Forks in danger. Do you really expect the Wise Ones to just understand that?"

"If it's the right thing I don't see why not!"

She snorts. It would have almost been out of bemusement if she hadn't been so frustrated and fed up with his stubbornness. "You really think Isaac's mom will pull you out of that too?"

"You wouldn't fucking be _here_ if it wasn't for _me_!" he screams at her. "So shut the hell up. You don't get to talk; you're standing around defending the enemy!" with his free hand, he points a stabbing finger in her direction. Eyes wild, he viciously pulls his tightly balled fist out from the hole in the wall, only to plunge it back in again. The wall shakes under the ferocity of his second punch, and Bella feels as though she's finally witnessing the eternal frustration he harbors from the death of his brother at the hands of a vampire.

"You're allowing yourself to be blinded, Dan."

There's an uncharacteristic pause from her partner. The female Hunter's hairs stand on end.

"Blinded?" Dan repeats, shaking his head, breaking out into an unpredictable and rather uncharacteristic smile. His frame shakes again, this time from a rumbling laughter that pours from his mouth. "Lemme tell ya something, dearest Bella."

The female hunter bristles at her partner's sudden switch in emotions. She opts for silence, to watch his movements in case he tries anything drastic.

He fully detangles his arm from the crushed spot of wall paneling. "I'm not the one under the control of some vampire. You're the one being blinded by Alice! You think I couldn't smell her in here? Her scent is all over the goddamn place."

His words force Bella to take a step back, her knees becoming wobbly as a sharp weakness comes over her. She inhales sharply, the air stabbing the tubing in her lungs.

"Next she'll charm you into revealing our secrets, you know. And then she'll kill you. But don't you worry, I'll make sure to kill her—"

At that, Bella leaps down the entire flight of stairs, landing hard enough to bend some of the floorboards with an eerie creak. She closes the remaining distance between herself and Dan with angry strides. She's almost compelled to strike him across his face, but she suppresses enough frustration and delivers a rough push to his chest instead. The internal struggle leaves her panting for breath, fists shaking dangerously at her sides.

If he so much as lays a finger on her, much less targets her specifically for killing she'll…

What? Kill him?

Dan stumbles backwards. "Why don't you look at that," he announces darkly. "She's got you so brainwashed that you're willing to turn on me?"

"I'm not—"

Surging forward, her partner grabs her from the front collar of her shirt. The fabric of it rubs uncomfortably against the skin of her neck as he lifts her a bit off the ground. Bella struggles against his vice grip, attempting to pry his gripping fingers off her. Hazel eyes bore into her brown ones; she observes the mixing emotions in their depths, with an angry hurt the most prevalent.

"Wake the hell up! You're being brainwashed by that bitch," he hisses. "I'm your best friend, not your enemy. Alice is your enemy. Fight whatever feelings you think you got for her."

She thrashes around enough that his tough hold relinquishes. Her hands connect with his chest again, more force behind her shove this time. She's so tempted to just couple the push with a hit, to land a clean blow on his jaw and scream at him that he should watch what he says – that he should show some decent amount of respect for her mate.

But she knows that he will dismiss her claims. She knows that would make Alice a target for him.

"Don't talk about her like _that_ ," Bella warns threateningly. Her eyes have narrowed into tiny and angry brown slits and her teeth grit painfully together. She could break his nose with her fists. She could bruise his ribs with a kick. She's so close to losing herself to her rage…

She thinks of the blood vial sitting heavily in her back pocket. She could take it, and physically force Dan to leave.

 _Or you could kill him_ , her mind fires at her. The suggestion is barely a whisper inside her and the dark and sudden coldness of it makes her pause.

"I know what I see. She's doing something to you and _you_ can't see—hey! No ya don't," he sees through her attempt at grabbing the vial in her pocket. Reaching out, he snatches the vial from her and pins her against the battered wall all in one motion.

The veins in his forearm pop as he tries to restrain her singlehandedly, but she breaks his hold for a second time. Outwardly she glares hotly at Dan but inwardly she's still appalled at the mere suggestion of killing him.

Because, surely it hasn't come to that. It should never come to that.

 _No one has to die_ , she reminds herself.

"You're all riled up and you were gonna take blood on top of it?" Dan examines the contents of the glass vial quickly before turning his scathing glare on her. "One of us could've ended up dead, you know."

His preemptive deflection of her plan sobers her mind a little. The reckless side of her abates for the time being. "So why don't you leave? You did show up unannounced – _again_ – and I can't say you're welcomed now."

"I'm here to stay."

Her anger flares hotly again as she turns away from him and swipes the motorcycle keys hanging by the door. She doesn't think she can stand another moment there, confined with only her seemingly uncontrollable irritation turned anger and Dan's presence to keep her company. "Fine. Then _I'll_ leave."

Anything to put some distance between herself and him. Before she does or says something she will undoubtedly regret.

Dan steps away, and she must say she's yet again shocked when he relents to her statement.

"Yeah, you do that. Go cool down," he crosses his arms, eyeing her movements cautiously. "I'm giving you fifteen minutes. Take a second longer and I'll come find you and drag ya back here – we're not done."

She ignores him, wrenching open the door with more force than necessary to reveal the pouring rain outside.

"And Bella?"

She grunts her acknowledgement.

"I better not find you within a five mile radius of Alice. Mark my words."

 _Too bad_ , she thinks. _Because that's exactly where I'm going_.

The door slams shut behind her as she steps into the brunt of the rain. Cold droplets sink through her clothes nearly instantly, but she welcomes it in small hopes that maybe it could cool her off in more than one sense. Even after she slides a leg over the sleek bike – an action that had never failed to excite her – hotness still sits underneath her skin, brought from her unyielding rage at Dan. As soon as the engine purrs to life, she sets herself on the road to Alice's house.

Alice.

She just needs to see her.

Bella needs to set her eyes on her. She needs to hear her melodic voice ringing deliciously in her ears, to talk to her, to inform her that Dan is back. She needs to tell her that Dan is back and resolute in his determination to exterminate her coven.

She needs to tell her that she failed in convincing him otherwise, that the price of her failure could lead to a war where lives are lost needlessly.

In that instant, her apparent failure becomes unbearable. The backs of her eyes sting with the threat of unshed tears. She fights them vehemently, even though had she not no one would be able to bear witness to her crying as she speeds through the rain alone.

She fights them until she forgets, until the very moment after she lands hard on her side and skids across the asphalt of the road, something hard and fast having knocked her clean off the bike.

 **A/N:**

 **Slowly and slowly they drift away...**

 **Thank you all. :) Sorry about the slight cliffhanger... It will be (semi) resolved soon. :)**


	19. Chapter 18: An Avenging Storm

**A/N: This has description of violence in it. Nothing is obscene, but I thought it fair to leave a warning.**

Chapter 18

It seems to happen in slow motion.

Without her on it, her bike continues on two wheels for a couple of seconds while rapidly decelerating. It flips over, bouncing once, twice before sliding. Metal screeches mercilessly against the asphalt, red sparks still visible despite the wetness of the road, the metallic screeching sound dampened by the downpour still assaulting to Bella's ears.

Her side hits the asphalt next, followed by her head, and she slides a few feet behind the motorcycle. She watches blearily, the edges of her vision darkening, as plastic pieces break off the body of her damaged bike as it settles to a grinding halt not too far from her.

A fiery pain erupts from her side as she slowly twists to look at the approximate location where she was struck. There's a trail of blood not too far behind her that leads to her body. Warm blood falls down the side of her head as she pushes herself up to get a better look around her. She winces from the pain; drops of blood fall from her face and onto the wet road, mixing with the running layer of rainwater that has formed on top. She allows herself to shudder from the suddenness of her injuries, the unexpected sight of her own blood, and the blended pain flowing through her.

Had she been a human, she'd definitely been dead.

But what had knocked her off the bike?

Bella blinks, and then she spots the answer to her question standing between her and her damaged bike. Sucking in a startled gulp of air, she pushes herself up. She ignores the throbbing in her head and the burning in her side, her body slowly starting the process of pulling her wounds together.

Though her head still swims a bit from the impact, she'd immediately recognize the blood red eyes of a vampire under any condition.

She'd recognize them from anywhere.

Those red eyes bore into hers relentlessly. Red hair frames the vampire's face, the strands just as red as her murderous eyes. With a smirk on her ethereal face, she takes a deliberate step in Bella's direction.

Reflexively she draws the knife sheathed on the side of her leg. Still shaking off the faint dizziness, she stumbles some as she takes up a defensive stance.

The vampire stops only to laugh at her, her deadly white teeth glinting in the dim light. "Your weapon won't do against me."

Her voice, combined with the sight of her wet red hair, strikes a chord of familiarity within the injured Hunter. For some odd reason, she can swear she's seen this woman before, if only in a glimpse.

"What do you want?" Bella barks at her. She's obviously not a Cullen… this might be one the rogues who have been creeping around and terrorizing the area, she realizes.

"Isn't it obvious?" she has a touch of a British accent in her sickeningly melodic voice. "I'm here to kill you."

In a flash of red hair, claws, and sharp teeth she lunges. Bella's eyes can barely track her, but she stumbles away in time to dodge the brunt of her attack. Claws still catch on the skin of her cheek however, ripping it open. Blood mixes with the water that runs down her face.

The vampire stops on the other side of her, her back facing Bella. On instinct, the Hunter reaches for the place on her side where she usually keeps vials of blood, the source of her power to hunt and kill vampires and other supernaturals.

Brown eyes widen in fearful shock when her free hand turns up empty.

 _Dan took the one vial I had on me._ She curses herself, her luck, her lack of preparedness. Her life hangs in serious jeopardy – the vampire has the advantage of speed and strength over her. She's little more than a sitting duck. Injured, with low visibility due to the rain, she's probably more like a fish in a barrel.

As if on cue, maniacal laughter erupts from the other woman. She turns around slowly, red eyes filled with such a crazed and murderous intent unnerving Bella.

"I'm going to have such fun toying with you before I kill you. Such fun," the crazy vampire languidly licks the finger coated in Bella's blood. "I just wish your blood tasted something sweet. I've waited for this for so very long."

"You've been following me?"

She smirks, answering Bella's question in a roundabout way typical of many vampires. "You're very good at covering your tracks. I knew you weren't human, you and your partner."

"What the hell do you know about—?"

 _Shit_. It clicks for her in that instant. The culprits aren't vampire rogues... but rather, a single vampire rogue. One that apparently holds some kind of nasty grudge.

The vampire disappears from Bella's sight. She looks frantically around, her eyes hardly able to track the unbelievably fast motions. Her mind whirls with questions. _Where is she? How long has she been here? How the fuck did I miss a vampire stalking us? Wait, there she—_

She whirls around, the vampire having stopped moving directly behind her. Vibrant red eyes greet her mere inches from her face, their proximity unnerving. She swings the knife in direction of her neck only for her attempted strike to stop halfway as the vampire's fingers easily clamp around her wrist. Struggling, Bella pushes against her hold.

"Now, now, you're a smart one," the vampire coos, using her free hand to stroke gently along Bella's jaw. In contrast cold fingers squeeze brutally around the Hunter's wrist. "Aren't you going to ask me more interesting questions? Say, let's start with what happened to that missing boy, hmm?"

Brown eyes widen in realization. "It was you! You killed him!"

"Kidnapped, killed, or turned," she laughs. "Does it really matter?"

"It's been just you all along, hasn't it?"

The redheaded woman shrugs before slowly crushing Bella's wrist with her cold palm and fingers. "Maybe. Now, how about you ask me why? Or better yet, how I found you after losing your tracks all these years?"

Defiantly, Bella throws a punch at her face. Much like her weapon hand, the redhead catches this strike too.

"My, I seemed to have made you angry. In any case, I happened to be here first and you conveniently fell into my grasp. How lucky am I?"

She doesn't wait for an answer. Her grin grows wild as she releases one of Bella's hands and her fist connects with Bella's injured cheek. The Hunter grunts in pain, the force of the strike nearly knocking her over. Regaining what she can of her balance, she attempts a counterattack but another painful punch to the other side of her face interrupts her. There's more crazed laughter before a searing pain enters her bicep and shoots up through her shoulder, travelling directly to her brain.

The vampire has bitten her, injecting venom into her bloodstream. She lets loose a cry of pain; this only seems to spur the vampire on, for she bites just to the left of the original, punches her again and Bella does fall over this time. She manages to roll slowly back onto her feet after a few moments.

 _You have to think of something. She's just going to kill you otherwise._

"Squeal some more like that for me. It'll make my revenge just that much greater," the words are full of malice as they fall from blood stained lips.

The vampire seems vaguely familiar, but… "What revenge?"

There's a pause.

"Do you not remember what you did?"

Bella sucks her teeth, partly from disbelief and partly from the aching pain radiating from her fresh bite wounds. "I don't even know who you are."

The vampire visibly shakes, her red eyes turning into little more than red slits. She takes a menacing step forward, her hands clenching and unclenching at her sides, the slim but unbelievably powerful muscles in her forearms flexing with each contraction. She bares her teeth.

"That's not important," the redheaded vampire snaps. "All you need to know is that I'm the one that will kill you."

Bella can't help letting the quip fall from her mouth. "You're not too different from any other vampire then."

"My James," she then takes on an almost hysterical quality, seemingly ignoring the injured Hunter. "You killed my James, my mate. I will avenge him!"

 _James._

"I've killed a lot of vampires," Bella deadpans despite wincing from the shooting pain of the venom invading her body through her wounds, the beginning stages of the Eat unfolding.

"You killed my mate!" the vampire screams at her, her cry echoing in the desolate woods surrounding the two supernatural beings. If only for a moment, the rain seems to quiet in acknowledgement of the vampire's apparent despair.

 _James_. The name certainly rang a bell.

And then it dawns on her; in her mind's eye she sees blond hair tied up in a ponytail, a worn leather jacket, pale skin, red eyes. She then sees blood, so much blood, Jaden's blood – she remembers Jaden's dead eyes, the hand driven clean through his abdomen that ended his short life.

James had been the tracker vampire that killed Jaden; the vampire she and Dan killed to become full-fledged Hunters…

And apparently this redheaded woman had been his mate, and now she's seeking revenge for his death.

"If your mate had been anything special, maybe I would have remembered him," Bella bluffs, hoping she can use her newly found insight to gain some control over her dire situation.

"Little bitch! You took him from me. I'll make you pay!"

The redhead disappears again, charging at Bella. However, this time the Hunter is ready for it; if she can concentrate enough, her eyes can catch the tail-end of the savage vampire's movements. Deliberately she inhales through her nose to stabilize herself, to forget about the pain from the vampire venom starting to literally eat away at her from the inside.

 _There!_

The crazed vampire had gone behind her again, and she raises her arm to block the original target of the attack. She winces as teeth easily break through the skin of her forearm, more venom entering, more blood exiting her body. Drawing back her weapon hand, she harnesses all the strength and momentum she can manage and drives the tip of the knife through the vampire's side. It doesn't penetrate far, but at least she breaks the skin and draws some amount of blood.

The vampire darts away from her, shocked and in pain. "That… That isn't possible."

"I'm not human so it's very possible," Bella carefully licks what she can of the blood on the blade's tip – it's not enough by a long shot, but she can still feel some strength and speed seeping into her muscles.

Even so, she's not sure how much more punishment she can actually take. The Eat is progressing further now, with the addition of more venom and the increased beating of her heart driving it to act as a deadly toxin in her body. By the minute her chances of survival lessen (and she could very well die at the hands of this bloodthirsty vampire, or she could succumb to the devastating effects of the Eat).

She barely dodges another attack from the newly enraged vampire. Weakly, she manages to counter a few more strikes.

With each breath and heartbeat, each contraction of her muscles, the venom spreads its growing destruction inside of her. Under her skin burns, the fiery sensation seeming to originate from the bite wounds themselves. Despite the cold pouring rain falling on her, she feels hot and beads of sweat start to form on her skin.

 _I'm in bad shape._

She allows herself to dwell on this thought, on the ever increasing pain that encompasses her body. As a result, she loses whatever ground she's gained in this battle.

More pain, excruciating enough that she screams, strikes her. The avenger vampire's teeth sink into where her neck meets her shoulder. She can feel her hot blood spurt out of the wound, and she just knows the artery there has ruptured. She struggles pathetically against the strength of the woman's cruel jaws, who only clamps down harder. The redhead abruptly lets go when Bella is sure she had been planning to rip her throat out, and delivers a kick with so much force that Bella basically soars through the air.

She lands roughly on her back next to her mangled bike. The edges of her vision tinge black as she involuntarily expels air from her lungs. Her head swims with pain – laying down she feels dizzy. Dizzy and weakening by the second.

She hardly gets out a cough when a foot descends upon the base of her throat, restricting her airflow. Blood begins to pour out of the punctures close to her neck, her red life spilling out onto the cold asphalt and mixing away with the still running rainwater.

Looking up into red eyes, it hits her; she's going to die. She's going to die at the hands of this disillusioned, crazed, bloodthirsty and driven by misguided revenge vampire.

"I'll let you know this about me… my name is Victoria and it has been an absolute pleasure killing you," Victoria taunts from above, pressing her foot harder into Bella's neck; she's cutting off the majority of her oxygen flow, forcing even more blood to leak from her wounds. "I want to see the life drain from your eyes."

 _Fuck, I'm really going to die here…_

The pressure lifts from her neck, the bright red river flowing out of her reducing to a steady trickle all at once. Victoria is swiped from her narrowing field of vision by a quick blur, and she now has a clear look at the towering dark clouds miles above her.

 _So beautiful_ , she can't help but think as she gasps for needed air, as her hand grips over the bite mark on her neck in an attempt to stop the heavy bleeding. She hears skirmishing somewhere near her. She feels lightheaded, too weak to care enough to see what's truly happening.

She just stares emptily up at the sky, unflinching of the rain pelting her eyes. There's a distinct crack that sounds, the noise of the fight ending swiftly after.

And then, almost by the grace of some higher deity, Alice's beautiful face swims into her view.

"Oh my god, Isabella! Isabella!" Alice kneels, hands hovering over Bella's form. Bella watches as golden eyes – such lovely, warming golden eyes she admits – rake over her battered form. They're shiny, filled to the brim with tears that will never freely run down her pale porcelain cheeks. In her growing delirium, Bella wants to comfort her, tell her not to cry – she doesn't want to ever be the reason she cries.

"Stay with me! Isabella!"

She hadn't even realized she'd closed her eyes. _Would Alice cry if I die?_

Bella does not want to die here, but the Eat is rapidly draining the remaining strength from her body. She's tempted to give in, to close her eyes again – maybe this time her rising fever will drop, maybe that incessant burning from under her skin will cease. If she closes her eyes, maybe the lightheaded dizziness that makes her world spin will subside.

None of it will, she already knows.

But it's so hard to _not_ give in to it.

Dainty hands grip either side of her face, desperately shaking her head. "Don't you _dare_ fucking leave me, Isabella!" Alice screams at her.

She's not sure how much blood she's lost, but the amount of venom wreaking havoc in her system will do her in much quicker than blood loss will. She has to take a gamble; she wills herself to sit up and lean on her ruined motorcycle for support. Her muscles strain painfully from the effort.

"The venom," speaking is so difficult at this point, and Bella's voice sounds so far away to her own ears. "You have to… s-suck it o-out."

Alice stares at her, obviously torn between heeding Bella's spoken request and searching for an alternative (though, that's the trick – there is truly no other alternative). Bella knows what she's thinking – sucking the venom out would simultaneously mean drawing more blood from the Hunter. She's already lost a great deal, much more than her body can replace in such a short period, and with Alice sucking her blood poisoned venom out, there's absolutely no telling if she would survive the additional loss.

But they had no other options to hope for.

Bella's head lulls back to rest against the bike, exposing the full column of her throat. "Do it."

 _No other option_.

Apprehension still present on her beautiful face, in her movements, Alice moves closer to the deteriorating brunette. She uses her hands to brace herself, one on the body of the motorcycle and the other on Bella's thigh, as she leans over the open bite wound on Bella's neck.

"I'm so sorry," Alice apologizes sadly, her cool lips barely touching the Hunter's hot skin as she speaks.

Before she can affirm her with an _It's okay,_ her mate's teeth have sank (as gently as she can probably manage, Bella notices) into her flesh, over top of the neck bite she had already sustained from Victoria. She sucks both Victoria's venom and Bella's blood out of her veins. Even as she grunts and breathes heavily in painful discomfort, Bella can't help but to think that Alice sucking on her neck would have proved more favorable under extremely different circumstances…

She can feel the deadly venom leaving her system alongside her blood. Lightheadedness threatens to toss her into delirium – she almost laughs out loud at the thought of being turned on right here and now had she not been so critically injured.

Just as abruptly as Victoria's foot vanished from over top of her, Alice's mouth is ripped away from her throat. She nearly whimpers at the loss of Alice's sweet lips on her neck; Bella had just succumb to the notion that dying with Alice attached to her neck would have ultimately been okay. She blinks, her vision blurry with her disorientation and the forever falling rain. A distinctly male silhouette seemingly towers over her.

Blinking a couple more times, she recognizes the familiarity of the broad squared shoulders.

"Dan?" Bella gasps, attempting to sit up straighter but wincing from the painful effort it takes to do so. What the hell was he doing out here? Had he been looking for her? Or had he followed Alice to get to her?

 _Oh, he had indeed been serious about that time limit,_ she remembers. If it weren't for her present condition she would have laughed out loud and told him he was an idiot for trying to impose stupid rules on her.

"Sneaky, sneaky," Dan's voice is chastising as he steps completely in front of Bella, blocking her view of Alice. "Brainwashing my partner and then attempting to kill her when I'm not around, huh? You got a lot of nerve for a pipsqueak."

"Wait, Dan," Bella says weakly. She tries to move but her muscles appeared to have lost all neural connections with her brain. Just breathing, let alone the act of speaking, is taxing.

Dan tosses her a syringe filled with a light green fluid. The light weight lands in her lap. "Try to hang in there, Bella. I'll be done with this bitch soon."

 _No!_ She screams internally. Her worst nightmare is coming true right before her very eyes. Her partner is attempting to murder her mate. She wants nothing more than to stop him, to intervene and tell him to back off but she has absolutely no viable means of doing so.

She still struggles, however. As Dan, hyped up on vampire blood, lunges to attack Alice and they clash, she feels utterly helpless. Though Alice managed to extract a decent amount of the venom (and consequently, her blood), its effects still wreak havoc on her. She's still burning up from her climbing fever, her head throbbing and the underside of her skin feeling as though it will melt away at any second. Moving a finger proves exceedingly challenging.

So she watches helplessly as Dan gets the upper hand on her mate – even in her borderline delirious state she can tell Dan has the sole intent to kill while Alice is merely trying to avoid such a permanent outcome. He slams her to the ground, the road cracking under the force of his enhanced strength. Bella's eyes grow wider despite her condition as she witnesses Alice barely fight back when Dan repeatedly tries to gain a sure grip on her neck; he wants to rip her head off, incapacitate her.

At the sight of it, something unlocks inside of Bella. She finds a hidden, determined, and refocused strength inside of her beaten and hurting body. She knows she must help Alice, create some type of opening for the small girl.

The magnitude of her will allows her to move her arm, her hand, her fingers enough to reach for her forgotten knife. She grips the handle as tight as her hand and fingers will allow.

She has to help Alice – the statement plays like a mantra inside of her head, keeps this little strength she's found stabilized.

Shakily, Bella draws her arm back. Her vision is blurry, a combined effect stemming from the still falling rain and her own overwhelming fatigue. She closes one eye, holds her next breath and puts all of her conscious effort into coordinating the forward movement of her arm, the timed release of the knife from her hand.

As the blade whirls through the air, she can only hope it hits her intended target.

And it does. Despite her less than favorable state, her aim remains true.

With a dull sound, the knife sinks halfway to the hilt just below Dan's shoulder blades. Dan lets loose a cry of anguish and his back arches from the surprise attack. He tries to reach around to grip the handle and pull it out as he stumbles off of Alice, but fails, only succeeding in throwing himself off balance.

"Gah! Fuck, Bella! What—why?" he whirls around to face her, his eyes wide and wild with the prospect of her apparent betrayal. "Do you _want_ to fucking die? Now, ah, now she's gonna kill you _and_ me."

 _She would never do such a thing._

She can think easier than she can outwardly respond. All Bella hopes is that Alice uses the opening to do something, make a move – run away, save herself, even. She doesn't really care as long as her vampire mate is safe and alive…

It's getting harder for her to think and the black tingeing the edge of her vision grows, swallowing up her eyesight.

"Alice won't kill me," Bella pushes the words out in a last ditch hope that he can understand, her consciousness quickly slipping away, "because she's my One."

 _Maybe now he'll understand._

Blackness engulfs her entirely.

 **A/N: This is a pivotal point and all I can say is that things will only escalate from here. I am very grateful to those of you who are reading and keeping up with this story. It's great knowing that people like my imagination; even though a lot of you hate Dan, which is honestly to be expected. :)  
**

 **All the feedback is much appreciated. I hope you all stick around for more... because of course, there is more to come.**


	20. Chapter 19: Awakened

What springs Bella out of the never ending blackness and back into the grips of reality is her face connecting with the floor. Hard.

It doesn't particularly hurt – really, the solidness of the floor _shocks_ her more than anything.

The feel and smell of the carpet is largely unfamiliar to her. Peeling open her eyes proves more a challenge than she's used to. When her eyelids pull back she squints as light rushes mercilessly into her pupils. Pushing herself off the floor is just as much as a challenge as opening her eyes; she stumbles to her feet ungracefully. Her muscles are stiff and tired, a small bout of nausea settles into her stomach, and a thick fog feels like it's clouding her mind.

Examining what she can manage of her body, Bella begins to wonder what happened. A portion of the fog lifts, her disorientation clearing enough for the memories of brilliant red hair, glinting deadly teeth, blood, and pouring rain to rush in all together.

She remembers that a red headed vampire somehow connected to her past had ambushed her.

Victoria.

She remembers that she had held her own against the vengeful vampire as best she could. But she was outmatched, unprepared. Bella had been so certain that death was going to be delivered at her hands…

 _Alice._

But Alice had saved her.

And then Dan had appeared.

Dan! Alice! _Where were they?_

For the first time, Bella raises her head to scan her surroundings.

 _Where am I?_

She's in a bedroom. Her eyes settle on the slightly out of order bed she had apparently slept on – the sheets, the frame… it doesn't belong to her. Upon a quick glance at the spacing of the four walls, she immediately knows the room is not her own. Upon further inspection, she concludes that she's not even in her _own_ house.

She moves to a previously spotted door – the only point of entry and exit besides the oversized window. As if in danger of setting off some type of hidden alarm, she cautiously closes her hand around the knob. Once she peeks long enough through the small opening between the door and doorframe, she pulls open the door and steps fully into the hallway.

Her ears detect zero noise. She's tempted to check out the rest of the closed doors that litter the hallway, as she heads for the staircase.

She's halfway from the bottom step when a fast shuffling breaks the eerie silence that had been creeping on her nerves. Brown eyes follow extremely quick movement as best they can, the rest of her bracing herself as well as she can physically manage.

An older woman with warm golden eyes set in a heart-shaped face and framed with chestnut hair, not much different from her own, appears a couple steps down from Bella.

"Esme?" the Hunter rasps, her voice dry and crackly. She tries not to wince at the sound of it and instead focuses on the fact that Esme is here; this must mean she's in the Cullen household. Where else would Esme be?

Bella's fingers trace lightly over the polished wood of the railing. Her feet shuffle on the step she currently occupies. She'd been up these stairs before. Yes, she's definitely at the Cullen's house. She has to be.

But why?

"I'm glad you're up, Isabella," Esme's lips pull up into a motherly smile, her eyes shining with a heartfelt concern. "How are you feeling?"

The slight nausea settled deep inside her stomach flares suddenly at the question. "I'm fine," she lies (or halfway at least). "Why am I here? And how?"

"Alice didn't want to leave you alone, and she was so worried about your condition," the older chestnut haired woman recalls with a marked sadness. Her elegant face scrunches up in worry. "We all were, truthfully. But seeing you like that hit her especially hard. She was distraught, nearly impossible to calm down for even but a second."

"I'm… sorry. Where is Alice now?" her apology falls from her lips quicker than she can actually realize it, almost like all of her trained and deadly reflexes honed over years of rigorous training.

"She's out hunting with Emmett and Edward. The poor thing – they had to practically drag her from your bedside to get her to feed."

Another apology sits at the tip of Bella's tongue but she swallows it and poses yet another question that has jumped to the forefront of her mental processes. "How… How long was I out?"

"A little over a day."

"A day…" the Hunter repeats absentmindedly, rolling the words over her tongue. She'd really taken an ass beating, no doubt about it.

Her mind flickers from Victoria, to Alice, to Dan. What about Dan? Where is he?

"Yes, and it's good to see you up. Alice will be so relieved," Esme speaks before Bella can fire off a question concerning Dan. "I know you said you were fine, but it will do no harm to have Carlisle look you over. He is a doctor," she outstretches a hand, her motherly tone leaving little room for argument. "Can you walk comfortably? I have no qualms in carrying you."

Bella's legs choose that moment to wobble, leaving her swaying unsteadily on her feet until she grips the shiny wood of the railing. "No, no thanks. I'm fine, really."

Esme narrows her eyes at the Hunter, clearly seeing through her façade. Shaking her head, she lets it slide, respects Bella's stubbornness and gently gestures for her to follow as she turns and descends the remaining half of the staircase.

Bella's mind spins with more questions, a dark observation at how vampires are helping her despite their species being mortal enemies. After some turns through the expansive downstairs (that Bella fails to wholly process, lost in her own head), Esme leads her to Carlisle, who had been reading a thick book in one of the many rooms.

"Ah, Isabella. Glad to see that you're up," the blond patriarch greets her in much of the same way that Esme had, setting the book down on the arm of the chair he had been sitting in.

Esme says something about preparing a small meal and retreats presumably to the kitchen.

Bella nods, frowns a bit when he seemingly pulls a blood pressure cuff and a thermometer from nowhere. "You're a doctor? A vampire doctor who works with humans?"

"Yes. I am around human blood often, but never in my practice have I harmed a patient – if that is what you're asking," he motions towards the chair. "Please have a seat. I will be quick."

Bella complies, albeit reluctantly so. That hadn't been exactly what she had been asking, or expecting of an answer, but it does give her a degree of comfort. "I'm not human," she clarifies still.

"Your physiology doesn't appear to be much different from a human's," he says, taking her temperature. "Your healing properties are impressive, though it seems venom negates that and acts as a deadly toxin to your kind, much like it does on humans."

"Yeah, something like that," Bella shivers involuntarily at the painful death the Eat inflicts. "We call it the Eat."

"That is an interesting name."

She shrugs. "Its name describes what it does," she attempts to explain, being careful of her word choice. "It eats you alive from the inside, destroying arteries, veins, and organs. Liquefying them," Bella stares at her hands, vividly remembering the burning sensation underneath her skin, the ever increasing agony. "On the outside, you get a fever, weakness, stuff that looks like a human being turned. Later on there's usually seizures and the like. Sometimes we turn crazy, kill others around us much like a Newborn. Then comes death."

Sympathy outlines Carlisle's older but handsome face. "That sounds devastating."

Bella shrugs again, pushing out the images her mind conjures – her own death from the Eat would have been certain had Alice not saved her. Devastating is an understatement, she's sure. "We can't be turned. If you cut open someone who's been killed by the Eat, brown and red mush comes out."

Though, she still has nightmares about being turned.

"I see," his movements in checking her reflexes are slow, for a vampire, but deliberate, confident and professional. "I take it your kind has developed a mechanism for fighting it?"

Bella's eyebrows crease out of sudden confusion. Sure, Hunters have developed a serum that works against the Eat. It's far from any sort of definite working cure, but if administered before the sufferer is too far gone, it greatly improves the chance of them overcoming the supernatural toxin's fatal effects.

This is nothing a vampire should know. Nothing any other supernatural creature than a full-fledged Hunter should be aware of.

How did he know about the existence of the Serum?

"When Alice brought you here, she also brought with her a syringe filled with a green substance. She said she found it on your lap after you passed out," Carlisle answers her unspoken questions. For a second Bella wonders if he's a mind reader, but then she realizes that her lack of response had been indicator enough. "I took a chance and injected it into you. It helped tremendously, stabilizing your condition."

A brief flashback of Dan tossing the syringe to her, her arms too weak to even twitch in effort to grab it, flits across her mind's eye.

"Oh, yeah. The serum – we don't have a name for it – helps. Dan gave it to me before he…" Bella trails off, unsure of how to gently explain his attempted murder of her mate. Her hands tense, muscles contracting from the surge of her anger at her pathetic helplessness to defend Alice. She's dragged off to an island of her own turbulent emotions, her seemingly everlasting regret.

Carlisle's soft touch to her hand, urging her to relax as he slides on the cold blood pressure cuff, brings her out of it.

"Where is Dan?" she snaps to suddenly, frantically looking to each corner of the room as if he might be hiding in plain sight and she's somehow missed him.

"Daniel is in the basement."

Bella pauses. She doesn't need to be an expert to read in between the lines, however subtle those lines are. "So I'm guessing that means he's tied up, restrained."

"My apologies, Isabella," his reply is solemn, confirming her hypothesis. "He was… dangerous. I couldn't take a chance that he'd harm another of my children."

"I can… understand. Can I talk to him?"

"I think it's best if you rest some more," he rests a hand on her shoulder, the gesture reminding Bella of her own father. "You're recovering well. Added stress won't benefit you."

His compassion only seems to spur her further into action that much quicker; she's shrugged off his hand and jumped up from her seat on the chair.

"I need to speak with him," she insists heatedly, striding away from Carlisle. The blood pressure cuff falls to the floor, with little care from the brunette.

And then suddenly her world spins and the blackness reclaims her.

* * *

The ceiling spins into Bella's view as her eyelids hesitantly crack open for the second time that day. Waking up the second time isn't nearly as disorientating as the first, but this time a dull ache has crept into the back of her skull. Her mouth is dry as she swallows thickly and sits up from having her back on the mattress.

The heel of her palms dig into her eyes as she tries to rub the annoying pain away. She removes them, looks up and ahead of her, and that's when she spots a blond vampire sitting not too far from the foot of the bed.

She blinks once, twice.

Jasper.

It's Jasper.

Her mind halts before bringing up what she already knows about him – mainly concerning his previous affiliation with Alice. Instinctively, she narrows brown eyes at him. Her jaw clenches. What could he possibly be doing here? What could he want?

The irrational jealousy flare inside of her, starts low in her chest, and her stomach feels as though it is slowly morphing into lead as he gives her a small smile. His golden eyes have the nerve to be filled with a mix of… kindness and understanding. She doesn't understand.

The sight of his smile only seems to fuel the growth of her irrational emotions. Is that how he once smiled at Alice? She notices the brutal looking scars that poke out from under the collar and short sleeves of his white t shirt… and she has half a mind to give him a few more.

 _Come on, Swan, you're being insecure. He's her ex._

A wave of calm suddenly washes over Bella. She doesn't know where it originates from, but nonetheless she's grateful for it.

"Hello," he greets, voice smooth and deep and possessing a hint of southern twang. At one time did his voice make Alice want to swoon? Despite the calmness that has seemingly been forced on her, the thought makes her fingers itch with the want to punch him. "Esme asked me to make sure you eat the food she's made for you."

He nods in her direction, blond curls bouncing ever so slightly, and for the first time Bella becomes distinctly aware of the tray resting on the foot of the bed. Unblinkingly she stares at the soup, sandwich, and crackers neatly arranged on the tray. She then drifts her gaze back up to Jasper, who leans forward a bit and gives her an encouraging smile.

Desperately she wants to believe he's goading her; she wants to believe that he's goading her so that her jealousy can take over and force her fist to connect with his face.

Her stomach rumbles lowly then, her hunger turning audible. She starts to reach for the crackers but her hand hovers rather awkwardly in the air, mid reach. Of course the food tempts her greatly and appears appetizing but no way could she bring herself to eat in front of this guy; any other Cullen, maybe, but not the one Cullen who is her girl's ex-boyfriend.

"Carlisle says you most likely passed out due to low glucose levels," Jasper sounds concerned – genuinely so – and Bella can't fathom a single reason why he should be. "Eating food should give you more strength," he pauses, holds her glowering gaze, unaffected, before adding: "And Alice should be back soon."

Until Alice's name comes tumbling out of Jasper's mouth, Bella had been successfully reigning in the ugly head of her irrational jealousy. It rears once more, providing her unwanted thoughts and images of him and Alice together. She clenches her fists, inwardly willing the feeling to go away; she doesn't want to feel like this. Alice is hers, she has nothing to be jealous or afraid of. Jasper's and Alice's relationship had been over long before she had ever set a (physical) foot in the picture.

The other side of her doesn't quite see it the logical way that she does.

 _What gives?_ She screams internally, her yell bouncing off the figurative walls and falling on the deaf ears of her more primal side.

More calmness comes over her, easing her jealousy for the time being. She thinks about eating the food, regardless of Jasper's presence in the room but still she can't. His eyes focus hard on her, as if he is reading her. She watches him watch her, observes the distinct flicker of recognition and additional understanding in his eyes. They soften considerably.

He shocks her when, instead of again telling her that she should eat, he says, "I understand where you're coming from."

Confusion grips Bella. She's sorely tempted to bite back that he doesn't understand a thing about her – and not to pretend as though he has a clue. "Excuse me?"

"I understand where you're coming from," he repeats with a certainty that leaves Bella with the impression that he can detect something – but what exactly? Her mind races with possibilities. Is he another mind reader? "I was once in your shoes."

"I'm guessing they didn't fit," Bella jokes lamely, regarding him with an even more renewed suspicion. Throughout her years of hunting, she's always hated how vampires loved to speak around the point. They favored riddles; so she learned to favor lame jokes that never garnered a laugh from either party.

However, Jasper chuckles warmly. "No, they fit," he assures. "They fit almost perfectly."

She examines him quickly, off put by his laughter. His body language gives very little away, and his face is wiped clean of readily identifiable emotion. She can't read him – she can't anticipate what is going to happen next, and it unnerves her.

However, she notices how he fidgets a bit, his fingers twitching where they're clasped in front of him. He tucks his chin to his chest briefly before meeting her eyes. "I was once very possessive of Alice too," he delivers. "She was precious to me. Still is, in fact."

Silence hangs in the room between the Hunter and vampire before it's broken by a low warning growl. At first, fully preoccupied with controlling the murderous urge to leap across the room towards him, Bella doesn't realize that the dangerous sound had emitted from her own throat. Who does this guy think he is? Injured or not she could rip him apart, cast his cold remains into a bath of blazing fire. She could murder him on the fuel of this primal jealousy alone.

She doesn't care what Alice had meant to him… Alice is _hers_ now – that's what Bella care about, that's what truly matters. Not his feelings. His feelings should be gone, disappeared, irrelevant. She'd force them to be if they aren't.

She would fight for Alice. She wouldn't just let her mate be taken from her, especially not by some random blond vampire who happens to be a member of Alice's coven.

"Easy. Rest easy," Jasper holds both his hands in a placating gesture.

In that moment Bella feels the strongest wash of calmness float over her, and she deduces that he's the source of it. She rejects the majority of the feeling, though its minor effects brings her back to her fully rational senses enough to hear his next words.

"I'm guessing she's already told you that we were once in a serious relationship."

"What's your point?" Bella bites back, scowling deeply.

"You're the one who holds her heart now. I've always wanted to speak to you privately. Outside some of the visions that Alice shared with me," he answers quietly, patiently. "I haven't had the chance until now. I have no ulterior motive," his eyebrows scrunch a little, "other than to clear up any potential future misunderstandings."

The Hunter crosses her arms indignantly, sits up a bit straighter and fires a scathing glare at him. "I don't need some lecture on how to treat her, what to do, how to act around her."

 _Especially not from_ you.

"That would be disrespectful. A line I would never cross," his words come out in earnest, his tone still managing to lack confrontational signs or exasperation. Jasper's expression slips into a thoughtful one, and he doesn't say anything for long moments.

Jealousy bubbles still underneath her skin, but a portion of Bella's guard drops. Now she's unsure if she should say, or do, anything. The silence grows increasingly uncomfortable.

"I was once a soldier," Jasper speaks just as Bella begins considering asking him to leave (or excusing herself; she had been teetering between the two courses of actions). "I served in the Confederate Army, during the Civil War."

Disregarding her current disposition, this little revelation intrigues Bella. Focusing on this new bit of information makes quelling her ill emotions that much easier.

However, she opts for silence, allowing him to continue should he want to (if she were to admit it to herself, she did want him to – but Bella is too stubborn to question or prompt him directly).

"It was my dream job. When I turned 17, I jumped to enlist," he laughs before leaning forward so that his elbows rest on his khaki clothed knee. "Turns out I was good at it too. The promotions came at me fast."

He pauses again, his yellow gaze traveling down to the spotless carpet. He sits unnaturally still – perfectly natural for a vampire – before a snort of amusement blows through his nose. "I suppose it makes good sense why I was brought into this second life to be a soldier again."

Pity pulls the apology out of Bella, almost like a reflex: "I'm sorry."

Jasper shakes his head. "No need," he ensures. "It's a past reality," he adds, continues his story. "I was second in command for Maria's army, handled the newborns. Even with my gift it was tough work. I also fought in every battle. Frontline, always," he looks down quickly again, studying and considering the numerous pale scars that litter the alabaster skin of his forearms.

Bella stares in silence as well. She remembers hearing, listening to stories about that war – the controversy that surrounded it. The Wise Ones had voted to bar any full-fledged Hunter from getting involved in the situation on the basis that the war was intraspecies, and too much of a danger for her supernatural race as well. Many Hunters, such as her own father, disagreed with the decision, citing that with every newborn created a human died. But no one dared defied the Wise Ones.

So they stayed out of the conflict, watched innocents be turned into vampires. They watched the vampires slaughter one another.

"What I'm trying to say is… fighting, wars, killing, hurting – these were things I knew best across two lifetimes," Jasper clears his throat. "Alice saved me from that – those lives."

 _But that's inherent to all vampires_ , she wants to yell at him, tell him that he's no special circumstance (and truthfully, it's mostly her sparked jealousy from hearing Alice's name spoken by his voice that pushes the thought through her head) but she abstains. He is different, his story slightly different than all the others she's heard over the years; vampires usually don't say they have been "saved" in any sense of the word.

"Alice saved you?"

"She did. She showed me a kindness, a compassion that I had never encountered, much less experienced."

Bella's teeth click together as her jaw clenches shut once more. She can't help but wonder if that's some euphemistic way of saying that their sex life had been good. The thought makes her blood boil all over again so she chooses to focus on Alice, her personality and how it could help anyone. She thinks about her kind golden eyes, eyes that look upon Bella with a distinct shine that warmed her insides. She thinks about her adorable smile and how it can settle anyone down, cheer that same person up effortlessly.

A small smile graces Bella's lips. "Yeah, she's a good person."

Jasper had remained silent during the brief moment of Bella's inner struggle. He nods, his gaze and expression overtly lost in thought. "That she is," he confirms confidently. "Alice told me to use my gift for more positive things. She ultimately convinced me to fully convert to the vegetarian lifestyle. At first it proved another hindrance, but she cheered me on, always telling me I could do it…" he trails off.

When he picks back up again, he does so with a rather reproachful look. "I'm sorry – I don't mean to keep rambling on and on about the past."

Bella gawks. She likes the information gathering – except the bits where her jealousy combined wits with her imagination and they ran wild together. "It's fine," she dismisses his apology with a wave. She pauses, looking for something else to say when he doesn't reply. "You said you had a gift? You never explained what it was."

"Ah, yes," he answers. "I… I can detect and control emotions."

It clicks instantaneously. That explains the calmness that had seemingly been forced on her earlier. _He had been trying to ease my jealousy._

But…

"What did you use your gift for? Before doing more positive things."

"To control the newborns, and other adversaries."

"So you manipulated them."

Jasper averts his eyes, and the action makes her question whether he manipulated Alice as well. She could hurt him, kill him all over again.

"Before you ask – no, I never messed with Alice's emotions. I would never do that," he raises his head, his fingers tighten where they're interlaced with each hand.

She has no concrete way of believing his words. The sheer thought of Alice being manipulated, taken advantage of threatens to undo her tight restraint on her murderous side, her Hunter instincts – namely, the nearly irrational possessiveness that her wild side exudes over Alice. On a whim, should she choose to not believe him, she could surge forward and smash his face in. She could very well kill him, put what might have happened between Jasper and Alice right.

She doesn't. She decides to believe him, sensing a truthfulness to his words. They sit, looking at each other, silence filling the room. It's hard to determine how much time has lapsed.

"Alice feels so much for you, Isabella," Jasper utters quietly, words' meanings doing more than just simply breaking the silence. The silence shatters, the suddenness of her comprehension forcing her to inhale sharply. Of course she had known – or hoped, on the days that she still failed to wrap her head around the fact that her mate is indeed a vampire – Alice felt for her. It's entirely another matter altogether to have it confirmed by a third party, an empathetic vampire. Her heart stops for a millisecond and Bella finds she's at a loss for words. At the same time she feels happy and pathetic.

"Her feelings for you radiate out from her," Jasper continues, shifting a bit. "I admit that sometimes it can be a little… suffocating," he blinks and relaxes his shoulders as a half smile forms on his pale face. "And I also admit that I wish I could be that, the source of her feelings."

Brown eyes narrow at him, deadliness glinting in their depths.

His smile does nothing but widen. "But I can't. I very well accept that I can't. You make her happy, happier than I ever could," he leans back a bit. "It's still early for your relationship, but believe me when I say that the feelings are very real, very special. It's beautiful."

Bella is absolutely floored; this is the first time her relationship with Alice has been validated by an outside party; at that, another vampire, who happens to be her girl's ex and some kind of gifted empath.

It touches her, really it does. But it does not touch her harder than reality. The shock's warmness fades away rapidly, almost as swiftly as it came over her, and she's left questioning outwardly, "What do you mean? What's your point for telling me all this?"

"Alice I are close; best friends, if you will," he explains thoughtfully. "I don't want you to ever think that I'm trying to win her back, or anything of the sort. And I hope that you and I could develop a good relationship some day, but I understand that would take time. I also see that you're torn… I hoped maybe could help clear your head a bit."

Processing, Bella nods slowly. She chooses this moment to ask the question that has been sitting in the back of her mind since he had stepped into the bedroom: "Do you still love her?"

"Of course I do," sincerity coats his voice as he answers without missing a single beat. "And her happiness means a lot to me; I would do anything in my power to keep her happy and safe."

Bella waits tensely for the jealousy to erupt from within her because she doesn't need help in ensuring Alice's safety, in securing her mate's happiness. Bracing herself, she waits for it, but it never comes.

Does that… would he lay down his life for Alice? The silent weight of the male vampire's solemn gaze answers her mental question, and though his words had only been a subtle implication, she finds herself in awe. Her girl isn't his soulmate, and they are no longer in a relationship, but he would sacrifice for her; he'd selflessly sacrifice for Alice's safety and happiness.

 _Could I do the same?_

Though knowing full well it's entirely too early for Bella to declare that she loves her vampire mate, she ponders. _Could I lay down my life for Alice?_

Bella promptly retreats into a sea of her own thoughts. She barely notices Jasper standing from his seat on the chair, gently and lowly excusing himself from the room. She doesn't hear the soft click of the door as it closes behind the blond haired empath, signaling her newfound solitude.

* * *

Bella only surfaces from the depths of her thoughts when the bedroom door opens a second time. Her gaze had been empty as it focused on the subtle designs of the comforter.

Immediately her heart strings pull as a figure enters the room. The scent hits her, the little hairs on her neck and forearms standing at rapt attention, and she looks up sharply.

She expects any other Cullen to have stepped into the room – Carlisle, Esme, even Jasper being at the top of her list. Much to her pleasant surprise it's the one Cullen that surprises her, who she's been secretly wanting to see, and who she's most happy to see.

Her smile forms on her face, brown eyes lighting up as she sets her gaze on Alice. She's standing from the bed on still slightly shaky, stiff legs before she knows it. She has a compelling urge to touch her, to feel porcelain skin that while bleeding under the harsh foot of another vampire, she wasn't sure she'd be able to feel again.

Alice appears to have the same idea, and executes it with the finesse of vampire speed. Before Bella can take a real step in her direction, lithe arms snake around the brunette's torso. Black hair tickles the underside of her jawline, cool lips tickling the exposed skin of her collarbone as Alice buries her face in the crook of Bella's neck. The gentle weight of Alice pressed against her body forces any traces of her thoughts – her extended conversation with Jasper, her failed attempt at talking down Dan – to suspend.

She returns the embrace, encircling Alice's form and burying her nose in her hair. Her nostrils flare and welcome her scent, the satisfying scent of Alice and outside forest.

It's hard for her to think that she'd almost been murdered in cold blood, robbed of holding her mate like this. It's hard for her to believe that her own partner had even attempted to harm the girl in her arms.

"I'm so, so glad you're okay," Alice breathes, relief coloring her melodic voice. "I didn't want to lose you," she pulls back from the embrace some, enough so that she can look Bella in the eye earnestly.

As much as the other girl attempts to hide it, Bella spots the hint of fear in golden depths. "You didn't," she assures her softly, squeezing her briefly. "I'm here. You don't have to worry about me."

"That's much easier said than done," Alice shoots her a look that Bella can't easily decipher. She can recognize the hints of worry still etched into her delicate features. However, the meaning behind her expression eludes her. Suddenly Bella is thrust back to just before Alice had kissed her for the first time, a time that seems so long ago now, how she couldn't read her face in the slightest then.

She can't read her face now.

She blinks and then Alice's expression is gone, replaced by a subdued curiosity. She steps back from the embrace totally, turning her head to glance towards the bed.

"You haven't eaten your food."

It takes a moment for the seemingly random observation to click inside of Bella's head. When it does, she glances sheepishly at the tray of food that Esme had been kind enough to prepare for her resting towards the foot of the bed.

"Yeah, well," the Hunter starts only to trail off and rub the back of her neck anxiously. How does she explain that she spent the past hour or so talking to Alice's ex? Granted, the two are coven mates, but Bella still feels awkward just mentioning it. Would it be wise for her to even bring it up?

"Nothing to say for yourself?" Alice teases, a devious grin making an odd home on her red lips. "I was told the food was doctor's orders."

"I couldn't eat! I was… I was talking with Jasper," Bella sputters out. An unmistakable blush creeps up her neck and onto her cheeks. She averts her eyes, the awkwardness consuming her being. Now that she knows she's going to have to sit and explain what was said, relive it all through her own words…

Alice's laugh rings in her ears, filling the room. "I know," she giggles. "I saw it beforehand. I'm sorry."

"You knew? And… you're sorry?"

"I'm sorry for making you think otherwise. I like putting you on the spot sometimes," Alice confesses innocently. "You're so adorable when flustered. It's hard for me to resist."

"Wait, wait, wait. You knew?" Bella repeats herself, pinching the bridge of her nose. "You couldn't give me a heads up?" She knows if it had been anyone else, she'd be legitimately mad, but she doesn't think being mad at Alice is within her power. "You could've spared me the trouble."

"If I had, then you would have missed out on a good little chat."

The brunette groans. "Some girlfriend you are."

Bella doesn't miss the way Alice's honey-colored orbs brighten up at the acknowledgement. Bella finds it completely endearing how something so small, so usually insignificant, can have such a positive impact on her mate. It makes herself feel god, warm and fuzzy in her chest at making her mate the slightest bit of happy.

 _You're so ridiculous,_ her own mind ridicules her. But she can feel it, the slow change of even her Hunter instincts accepting a vampire as her One. It's exhilarating, but somehow leaves her apprehensive all the same. She can't pinpoint the exact source of her anxiety, but it's definitely there, and sometimes it presses heavily on her happiness with Alice.

Bella jumps at the pale hand waving furiously in front of her face.

"That time I did lose you," Alice remarks solemnly, the lightheartedness that had coated her voice before has mostly disappeared. "You should eat your food." She nods over to the again forgotten food on the bed.

"Geez, now you're bossing me around," Bella quips in effort to restore the previous atmosphere, not liking the newly formed worry lines on Alice's face. "Say please first."

The smile returns to Alice's mouth as she leans up to plant a chaste kiss on Bella's slightly chapped lips. The effect is nearly immediate; Bella's eyes flutter closed for a second and she pushes a pleasurable sigh through her nostrils.

"Okay. That works too," Bella relents.

The Hunter moves to take a seat on the edge of the large bed. Alice follows suit, sitting beside her, only after Bella takes the first bite from her sandwich.

Flavor explodes into Bella's mouth and her taste buds dance to welcome the taste of sustenance. She all but scarfs down the sandwich and soup. She tries to slow down, failing to do so. Her hunger is nothing short of ravenous and minding her manners in front of Alice proves hard, if not outright impossible.

She sheepishly glances at Alice when she's finished, having left no morsel of food on the tray. She expects to find Alice staring at her amusedly, ready to poke some fun at her.

Instead, she finds the small girl staring off into space – looking much like Bella probably had just minutes ago. Bella is unsure whether Alice is experiencing a vision, but nonetheless she takes advantage of the opportunity to stare at her side profile.

 _Having such a moment just to look her was almost taken away from me_ , Bella observes somberly, her thoughts pulling her into a flashback of her fight with Victoria. She had fought as best she could under the circumstances, having been at a steep disadvantage from the very beginning. With the venom taking its toll on her body and mind, her blood leaking onto the cold and wet asphalt, and red eyes staring down into her own bleak ones, Bella had been certain she was going to die. She'd resign herself to a gruesome death, the ultimate price to pay for the sum of her recent mistakes.

And like some guardian angel, Alice had swooped down from the grey heavens and saved her. She vaguely recalls the sounds of the two vampires' skirmish, the resounding snap that ended it (and Bella finally realizes that this echoing crack must have been Alice twisting off Victoria's head).

She blinks slowly, pulling herself out of the memory before it can fully play itself out. She turns her head so her steady gaze is no longer set on Alice's form. Their gazes now run parallel as Bella considers her luck – or had it even truly been luck?

The questions she's had about the encounter spring forward like a leak breaking in a pipe. If Alice had been getting ready for their impromptu date, how had she known Bella was in trouble? Did she already know that Bella had been planning to see her, tell her that Dan had failed to listen to reason?

Her failure.

Her failure comes back to hit her tenfold.

 _This is something we need to talk about,_ Bella knows. How does she broach such a topic? Where does she even start?

From the corner of her eye, she sees Alice shift to face her. The petite vampire worries her bottom lip between her teeth.

Bella gets the feeling that their minds had been in similar places. So she sits there, fidgets a bit, and waits for it.

"What happened, Isabella?" Alice's question comes softly, mixed with confusion and melancholy.

That warm feeling Bella had felt earlier dissipates. She flinches away from the open-endedness of the question. "A lot," she replies cryptically, her deeply ingrained nature getting the best of her. She runs her hands through her already mussed hair as she regretfully admits: "I honestly don't know where to start."

"From the beginning."

Truthfully, Bella had been hoping for a second, more specific question; though, she had also been expecting that answer. She pauses to collect her thoughts, remembering the arguing, the anger, the rain, her own blood washing away.

"Of course, when you left Dan came back. We argued," Bella begins, feeling the weight of her own failure again. "He wouldn't listen to me, no matter what I said. He threatened to kill you again, and I had been so close to hurting him," she shivers. "I really didn't want it to come to that. So I left."

Alice leans forward, her hands resting in her lap. "Were you on your way here?"

"Yeah, I wanted to see you," Bella smiles weakly, only vaguely implying that she had originally wanted to relay to Alice the details of her failing to change Dan's mind. "But then I was… ambushed."

At the mention of the attack, a low growl rips promptly from Alice's throat. The sound is threatening, almost primal in its tone – it doesn't sound like a noise her wondrous, kind-hearted, adorable pixie of a mate should be making.

"How dare she lay a finger on you," the petite vampire hisses vehemently, as her body tenses, bristles.

"She was taking revenge," Bella answers her question, though she's well aware it had meant to be rhetorical. "Apparently the vampire Dan and I killed to earn our full status had been her mate. James. She claimed she'd been trying to find me ever since. Bad luck running into her here, in Forks." She shrugs at the end of her explanation.

Alice crosses her arms over her chest. A dark look highlights the shadows in her narrowed eyes, colors the tone of her voice as she scowls deeply. "I don't care. She harmed my mate. She suffered the consequences."

"Consequences?"

"I killed her."

Bella had honestly figured as much – she had been sure that Alice put a permanent end to the vengeful redheaded vampire. Despite having taken many lives herself – undead or otherwise – it's slightly different hearing her own mate tell her (and, she admits, so eloquently too) that she actively decapitated and burned another creature. Bella doesn't blame her or see her in any other light; she's well aware that had their roles been reversed, she'd have found a way to do something much worse than simply decapitate and burn Alice's attacker.

And if Bella remains totally truthfully to herself, she'd go as far as to say that she can't really blame Victoria. Had someone murdered Alice, she's sure she would have sought revenge as well, until either she or the perpetrator drew their last breaths. Bella tentatively lays her hand over Alice's, a silent appreciation for saving her life.

A bout of quietness hangs between the two women. And speaking of revenge and rescuing, she decides to ask a question of her own: "How'd you know to come save me anyway? Had a bad feeling or—?"

"I saw her decision," Alice supplies evenly, the scowl on her face still present.

"Her decision?"

"Yes," the raven-haired beauty sighs momentarily. "She'd made a resolute decision to kill you. I saw the outcome of it," at Bella's furrowed brows, the vampire backtracks. "I'm sorry. I never properly explained my gift to you."

"You see the future, right?" Bella checks, remembering in full detail but choosing her words carefully. "What more is there?"

The left corner of Alice's lips quirk up into a half formed smirk. "The future isn't ever set in stone."

Of course, her One is a vampire, so by nature she's going to have to speak in riddles. At least at first.

"When you think about it, the 'future' is just the end result of decisions. I see these decisions," Alice explains patiently. She uses a finger to tap one of her temples for emphasis. "However, decisions can be changed and therefore so can the future. If someone is weighing two different options, I can see the outcome of both. That doesn't mean both are necessarily going to happen for certain."

"So you can see possibilities," the brunette concludes with a thoughtful nod. "And theoretically you can predict anything."

"Theoretically," the future-seeing vampire confirms. "But as with anything there are many variables, some limitations to my ability."

"Limitations such as?"

"Seeing snap decisions is nearly impossible," Alice says bemusedly, and Bella wonders what's so amusing until she amends her statement: "And you seem to be very prone to quick decisions. You're difficult to see."

 _Oh._

Bella's face reddens, cheeks becoming hot.

"Not only that. You're hard for me to see unless you're in direct contact with another vampire, be it me or otherwise," Alice explains further. "Carlisle suspects that it's because you're a Hunter… very similar to a human but obviously anything but."

Bella pauses, digesting this information. She meets Alice's eyes squarely. "In other words, you can't really see Dan either? Even though he wants to kill you and your coven?"

Her mate's eyes turn downcast and suddenly she finds great interest in tracing nonsense patterns into the bed's comforter. Bella wishes she could take back her words, if only to reverse the effects they have on Alice. "No, I can't – especially since he's with the La Push Wolves. It seems they serve as a hundred-percent block."

Alice's answers fuels Bella – she has to fix this mess somehow. There has to be some way that they can avoid an interspecies conflict, a way to solve this mess without shedding blood. She's already failed once, but maybe with a sliver of hope and another chance…

She wants to mention to Alice – let me try just one more time – but the door to the bedroom swings open, and in steps Carlisle. He nods knowingly at Alice, smiles at the both of them as he directly addresses Bella. "How are you feeling, Isabella?"

"Let me see Dan."

The words slip out of mouth, but they hold a determination that Bella suddenly feels in her entire being. She watches as Carlisle's features school into an easy expression; she hears the small, almost inaudible, gasp that comes from Alice's lips.

Carlisle spares a glance towards Alice, who lays a hand on Bella's shoulder. He then sighs and regards the Hunter much like any other doctor would assess a stubborn patient.

The hand on her shoulder tenses ever so slightly before he answers to Bella's demand. She covers Alice's hand with her own – she can feel her worry, her apprehension, and she can't say she blames the petite girl. But she has to do this. She has to at least try again, before resigning to fight a war here she's not sure any of them will survive unscathed.

"Very well."

 **A/N: This is the longest chapter so far. I will go ahead and warn that there is some foreshadowing here ;). Would love to hear your guys' opinions. Thanks for reading so far!**


	21. Chapter 20: We Are Divided

Chapter 20

"I am not letting you go in there alone."

Bella turns abruptly from the door to the basement – she had apparently missed it on her first walkthrough of the Cullen house, the opening partially hidden by an old bookcase. Now she's fully aware of the door's presence here, and behind it, Dan's.

"Alice," Bella speaks the vampire's name, says something for the first time since she had bolted from the bedroom upstairs. The petite girl had tried repeatedly to capture Bella's attention – she had tried to tell Bella that Dan isn't fit for speaking rationally, that she shoulder reconsider, that ultimately she didn't think it was a good idea at the moment. And Bella had heard her, she really did, but she's the only one that can make him see reason and she knows it.

She can't afford to stop, to be swayed any other way.

Dan would only listen to her, as she is his partner, but even at beast he's still a loose cannon. "Alice," the Hunter starts again. "I have to. He won't listen if you're there."

And somehow, Bella knows, this is her last chance to make something… _anything_ happen.

Alice shakes her head in the negative adamantly. "No, you've already said he won't listen," she quickly glances in the direction of the staircase. "Maybe it's time we—"

"No! Not yet, not yet. We can, we will. After…" the brunette falters in trying to communicate her thoughts – at this point, with Dan supposedly in custody the rest of the Cullens deserve to know what danger could be headed their way. But, still, it doesn't change her need to talk to him. She has to talk to him, there's no doubt about that.

But Alice can't be there.

Alice eyes her, obviously torn between doing what she thinks is best for her family and implicitly trusting Bella.

Bella can't necessarily say she herself is offended, that's he blames the petite vampire for her hesitation. Bella would be lying boldly if she claims that she doesn't feel similar polarizing feelings. On one hand, she wants to give into Alice's requests; she wants to accompany her in relaying this critical bit of information to Carlisle, wants to let her in on her full conversation with Dan.

By contrast, she knows Dan is still her partner, another Hunter she swore an oath with. She owes him her best, and she can't just give up on him so easily and effectively declare him an enemy.

Her heart is split in two, each half in a different location, clenched by two different hands. And their tight grips hurt, she can feel them in her soul.

"We will. We'll tell them," Bella promises softly, fighting the urge to reach out and stroke the backs of her fingers across smooth skin. "I just… you have to let me talk to Dan. Alone."

She spots the flare of anger in Alice's eyes before she snaps her head in the door's direction. Her livid gaze appears to drill holes through the wood, to wherever Dan is in the basement. "I don't trust him."

The statement catches Bella by surprise. She had been confident Alice lacked trust in Dan – it was only reasonable, if she puts herself in her mate's shoes. Hearing the words out loud makes her heart give one particularly hard thump in her chest, breaking into two a little more. "I know."

In that moment, Alice's resolve cracks and she sighs despondently. She steps away completely from the door, gesturing towards it with angry dramatics. "I trust you."

Those words again fall from her lips. All Bella can give is a small smile. "Thank you."

"I'll be right here. If I hear or sense anything…"

Bella nods as she sets a hand on the doorknob. She turns it slowly, pulling open the door, and takes a step on the first concrete steps. Before descending the rest of the steps she takes one last look at Alice, who stands next to the door with her arms crossed over her chest, and closes the door.

The air is damp, the smell of the basement slightly stale to her nose. She notices that it's mostly finished and well lit; she's surprised. It contrasts greatly with the dungeon she had envisioned inside her head. She had imagined a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling to act as the only source of light, piping to be leaking, the walls utterly bare, grey, uninviting in all senses of the word.

She runs her hand along the metal railing until she reaches the bottom step. There's shuffling, a quiet clanging of metal against metal somewhere to her left.

"Look what the vamps dragged in," Dan sneers gruffly, the quality of his voice so rough it gives Bella the impression he hasn't spoken his entire time here.

Taking measured steps towards him, Bella stops when she's immediately outside his circle of range. The first thing her eyes notice is that he is indeed restrained, a pair of heavy duty steel-reinforced handcuffs tethering him to one of the metal poles standing in the basement. His clothes are mostly dirty, not filthily so, but enough that they hold his smell. The stubble that usually litters the lower half of his face has grown into the very beginnings of a dark and thick beard. His hair has grown as well, the black strands completely disarrayed and barely falling into his eyes.

He looks decently fed, adequately hydrated. He has no injuries, save for the raw red rings around his wrists, no doubt a physical testament of where he's been fruitlessly tugging to get free.

Right now, more than ever before, her partner eerily reminds her of that young boy who had turned up on her and her Dad's doorstep years ago. As he looks her in the eye, deep-seated hatred burning slowly in his hazel ones, she remembers the tears that streaked down his cheeks, mixing with the rainwater wetting his youthful face.

His eyes are the same now as they had been then, but she still sees the boy that was her best friend, the boy whose brother had been mercilessly slaughtered by a vampire.

She still sees her childhood best friend.

Her partner.

"What the hell you looking at?" he snaps at her.

She remembers how he had been little more than a terrified teenage boy, his resolve the only thing carrying him those first days, the first couple of weeks after his brother's gruesome death. After the funeral, where he shed the last tears she's ever seen him cry, she watched his resolve steadily harden. He became more determined, more committed to his training and the Trials. He turned his failures into wins, transformed his weaknesses into strengths.

At the same time he swore an everlasting vengeance against vampires. A vengeance that only seemed to grow after each of his (their) vampire kills. Distinct satisfaction would always enter his eyes after each slaying. Bella had thought it would get better in time, that he'd somehow outgrow it, but it didn't. Each of their hunts only seemed to fuel that hatred present in the depths of his eyes.

Now, for his sake (and hers, Alice's, the Cullens', and even the shapeshifters') she has to break him of this vicious cycle of vengeance.

"Quit looking at me like that, you vampire worshipper."

Bella frowns immediately, the insult thrusting her back into her reality. "You're being ridiculous. I'm not a vampire worshipper."

Dan scoffs, halfway rolling his eyes. "Okay, you fuckin' traitor."

"I'm not a traitor either, Dan. I'm your partner."

"No, you're not. Hell, if you were," he pauses to lightly rattle the cuff links clamped around his wrists. "You'd be helping me get outta here, helping me kill these bastards."

"That's the thing," Bella shakes her head. "I stand by you fully," she crouches down, resting on her haunches so that she's looking at him at eye level. "But I can't let you do that."

"Because you've gone off the deep end."

"Because it's _wrong_ ," she deadpans.

"The only thing that's wrong is their existence," he spits at her. He leans forward as much as his restraints will allow. "You know, I thought you outta everyone else would understand."

Bella sighs, knowing the reference instinctively – Jaden's murder. Remembering the pain, the guilt, the powerlessness of course she understands better than any other Hunter they know would. "I get it. I really do. But this is wrong. You're starting a war, putting too many lives in danger. And for what?"

"I'm getting rid of blood sucking monsters. I'm saving people," Dan declares, conviction burning strong on his face, in his voice. "With the wolves, we outnumber them. It'll be easy, no danger."

"What about the Wise Ones?"

"What about them?"

"You're risking revocation," Bella reminds him hotly. _Which is easily punishable by death._

He snorts, leans back, and angles his head completely away from her. "They'd have to understand."

Mentioning the Wise Ones again, she has him on his heels, has him once more doubting his "full-proof" plan. This time, she just has to push and probe a little harder. A real opportunity to convince him to see her reasoning will surely open up afterwards. "Are you sure about that?"

"Yeah. You know, they're more your problem anyway."

"Why?" she questions quickly, his answer serving to catch her off guard.

He surges forward, metal clanging loudly against more metal stopping his rapid movement. "Cause you're a goddamned traitor, Bella!" he bellows, chest heaving from his sudden exertion. The tip of her nose is just inches from her own as he bores livid holes into her eyes, through her skull.

Bella stares back, largely unfazed, holding his gaze calmly and carefully. His threatening actions hadn't caused her to flinch in the slightest. Basic intimidation had stopped working on her during the days of her Trials. He should know better.

However, what does force her muscles to move is the sound of the basement door opening and closing. There's a sound of swift movement, deft footsteps, and then Alice's image swims into her field of vision, the petite vampire having seemingly materialized from the slightly damp air in the basement.

Blinking rapidly, Bella stands to her full height and turns away from Dan. "Alice? What are you—?"

"I already told you that if I heard or sensed anything," Alice repeats her warning from not even ten minutes ago. Her shoulders tense, the slim muscles in her arms shifting as she keeps her golden gaze fixed on Dan, who glowers back with a palpable hatred.

"He's restrained. You don't have to—"

Bella cuts herself off when those eyes turn on her. The lack of trust her mate has for Dan becomes the clearest it has ever been, a tangible weight that sits heavy on her chest. Here, the two pieces of her divided heart are present in the same room, but never so much farther apart (in those honey-colored eyes she also sees a determination – Alice is not leaving, choosing to anchor herself onto Bella's side. It would have been endearing, Bella is absolutely sure, under different circumstances.)

It hurts. It really fucking hurts. But at this point, what can she really do about it? What can she do but salvage the situation? She's starting to think there's no definite fix for this…

She's quickly running out of options.

She's just starting to realize this.

"Seriously, Bella?" Dan turns his eyes on the female Hunter as well, tossing his chin in Alice's direction. "This is why you betrayed me?"

Her grip on her emotions slackens gradually. She clenches her hand into a fist, unclenches it. God, she could punch him square in the jaw; it'd be such a clear and easy shot. "I didn't betray you."

"Sure ya didn't," he drawls sarcastically. "You just randomly got a thing for human-look-alike leeches. Got it."

"She's my mate."

Bitter laughter rips from her partner's throat, tumbles ceaselessly from his mouth. The metal of his restraints clang softly against the pole as his body shakes with uncontrolled mirth. "You know, you said that right before you passed out. I thought maybe the Eat just got to you badly."

"Dan—"

"You're delusional," he speaks right over top of her. "And you're being manipulated," he casts a disgusted look towards Alice. "Your One can't be a fucking vampire. Snap out of it."

Hissing, Alice steps forward so that the toe of her shoe just brushes the end of Dan's pants leg.

On reflex, Bella extends her arm in front of Alice, halting the other girl's forward movement. If they get too close, things will get ugly – she has to protect them both, her partner and her mate.

"You have no right to speak to her that way," Alice growls.

"Yeah, pipsqueak? You have all the rights, huh?" he challenges, managing to look so self-confident even while tethered to a pole. "Got something you wanna say?"

"Learn a little respect," the vampire warns him threateningly, baring her gleaming white teeth. "No matter what you claim, she's indeed my soulmate."

His face hardens, the smirk wiping away as he leans forward quickly again. His arms pull against the handcuffs violently, the veins in his forearms coming abruptly to the surface of his tan skin. Contrasting his violent action, the next words he speaks are low, slow, and deliberate: "You say soul like you have one."

For Bella, time appears to slow down to a mere crawl and then to a full stop. Though the scathing words had obviously been hurled towards Alice, they hit her instead. They cut her deeply, the implication that her One is no more than just a corpse, a lifeless walking shell of a being touching something scarily angry within her. She takes their hatefulness, embodies the potent feeling for just the second it takes for her fist to draw back and surge forward into Dan's awaiting mouth.

Her knuckles throb, and Bella draws sick satisfaction from the dull radiating pain and the smeared bit of blood on her middle digits. She shakes, small tremors moving through her body, and breathes heavily through her nose as her momentarily unchecked hostility drains from her, leaving her feeling oddly empty.

Time resumes normally.

Dan spits blood onto the floor, the red stain standing out against the grey color of the cement. His head is still turned away from her from the blow. Bella glances again at the blood on her knuckles, her eyes widening in latent comprehension.

 _I just hit him._

She steps back, narrowly missing bumping into Alice. He cranes his neck slowly back in her direction. As she catches the split in his bottom lip, instant remorse wells up in her. But a big part of her refuses to even consider voicing any sort of apology.

 _He had it coming,_ she repeats to herself.

"So that's how it's gonna be, huh?" Dan scoffs. Another cocky smirk plays at his bloody lips, the sight of it enough to infuriate Bella all over again. "You're gonna just let them control ya without a fight?"

Her fist trembles, itches with the renewed desire to punch him again. He can't see reason, he can't understand what she's try to communicate to him. He's in so deep, so utterly caught up in his need for vengeance that it frustrates her endlessly. Is physical violence really going to be the only way she can get through to him?

And what if… What if _that_ doesn't work? Where does that leave her?

Where does it leave him?

 _Will I have to…?_

She vaguely senses Alice go unnaturally still behind her. Bella has reluctantly resigned to smashing his face again when Alice grabs her wrist firmly, effectively halting the chain reaction of her second punch.

The brunette inquisitively peers over her shoulder at the shorter girl, who shakes her head slowly.

"Don't do this," Alice tells her.

Bella slowly uncurls her fist after a moment's hesitation, gently detangles her wrist from Alice's sure grip, and brings her hand back down by her side. She looks down at Dan, her partner staring up at her with an expression she can't quite decipher. It has been such a very long time since she's looked at him and not have an indication as to what he was thinking…

 _Is this it?_ she thinks. She wills words to come, to speak to him. But she finds herself empty handed; she has nothing else to say to him.

So she doesn't speak.

She tears her gaze from unreadable hazel eyes. She looks over her shoulder again at her mate. The words, _Let's go to Carlisle,_ sit on the tip of her tongue. What other option does she have? Her stomach feels heavy. Her heart has already sunken far out of her reach.

She doesn't get through the first syllable when an abnormally loud commotion sounds from above them. There's a loud bang that echoes, vibrates the ceiling of the basement. Mostly indistinguishable shouting follows, and when the unseen chaos pauses for more than a heartbeat, Bella looks to Alice for answers.

But her vampire is just as shocked as she is, her mouth slightly slack as she stares up at the ceiling.

She's going to voice her concern but a discernible shout from upstairs beats her, "Where are you damned leeches hiding him?"

Bella doesn't recognize the voice, which is distinctly female and so obviously enraged. She catches Dan sit upright, his ears perking at rapt attention. His body goes still, not even his chest moving to draw in a single breath.

"I know he's here!" the unknown voice comes back again.

Bella glances to Alice, whose nose has wrinkled in apparent distaste before a small gasp escapes her.

"Leah!" Dan yells, erupting into a flurry of movement. He begins pulling harshly and insistently on his restraints, the cuffs cutting into his wrists more, drawing hair thin streams of blood from the wounds already present. His muscles strain with each yank.

The female Hunter is left in her shock induced state. Leah? Dan's supposed mate? She's here?

A shapeshifter is in the Cullen house?

Bella makes eye contact with a concerned Alice, and then her feet are moving swiftly to the stairs. As she climbs the stairs, she knows Alice is behind her, can easily feel the other girl's presence; Dan is still shouting Leah's name from down below, having forgotten about Bella. But he himself has been temporarily shelved in her overworking mind.

Reaching the door, she peers over her shoulder at Alice looking for guidance, approval, something other than her own mirrored confusion and upon receiving an assuring nod, she twists the doorknob open.

Light floods her retinas, the brightness considerably stronger than the lights in the basement. There's no one in immediate sight, but she can hear the commotion continue, though definitely more subdued. With Alice leading, Bella follows her towards voice uttering words she catches here and there.

Their short journey stops once they reach the main living room. Here, in this one space of this ridiculously enormous house, every single one of the Cullens has gathered. Bella can't help but feel surrounded, outnumbered – she shakes that from her mind as best she can, for the Cullens are essentially her allies.

Redirecting her gaze, she settles it on the woman restrained by Emmett's big arms. She watches sleek muscles shift underneath copper skin as the Native American thrashes. Her head moves side to side violently, tossing chin length dark hair all about. Mostly empty threats and swears fall from her mouth while the rest of the room falls into silence.

When the woman stops her fruitless struggling long enough to turn furious dark eyes on her, Bella realizes who she is immediately, instantly connects this face to a name she's heard spoken before.

This is Dan's (supposed) mate.

Leah.

 **A/N: Oh geez. What ever could happen _now?_  
**

 **Just want to give a shout out to EVERYONE for the kind words, encouragement, and criticism! And also the favorites and follows. It all means a lot. I appreciate you guys. :)**

 **And as always, there will be more...**

 **PS: I agree with you guys. Dan is an ass. I enjoy all the discontent you all throw his way. I'm glad a character can elicit a reaction like that from you all... guess it means I'm doing a decent job? Haha**


	22. Chapter 21: Equals

**A/N: Sorry for the wait! Here is chapter 21. There is very minor violence and strong implication of sex in this chapter; just a warning. Please enjoy.**

Chapter 21

Leah, Dan's supposed One, is who Dan has chosen over Bella. The brunette refuses to say she's some totally innocent bystander, but looking this woman in the face, meeting her eyes, promotes an ache in Bella's heart. She finds it so easy to blame a lot of this situation on this shapeshifter, the one who Dan has claimed to fall in love with.

He's chosen this shapeshifter over her, his partner. He refuses to see reason, to hear Bella out, to even believe that Alice is _her_ One – because, if only partially, this woman. Even if he is manipulating the shapeshifter, Bella still wants to find a way to blame her. How could she not?

Leah is another living source of their current predicament, Bella's and Dan's current divide. She's part of the reason why little by little Bella is losing hope in mending it, or at least mending it without violence.

Staring into dark brown eyes that mirror her own, Bella knows she could take first blood. Right here and now she could reach out, strike Leah to death, beat her until she succumbs to internal wounds. She could maybe even wrap her fingers around her elongated neck and choke the life out of her. In whatever act of violence she so chooses, she could eradicate Leah, consequently leaving Dan distraught and unable to follow through on his plan to kill Alice.

But she won't, she couldn't do that no matter how much she currently dislikes this shapeshifter.

She can't because she still holds onto that sliver of hope; the hope that says everything will turn out okay, that blood doesn't have to be shed, and that a war doesn't have to commence.

"I know you," Leah mutters so quietly that a human with perfect hearing would have trouble hearing it. But Bella isn't human, so she hears the words, and so do the vampires in the room, and suddenly Bella feels the weight of an entire coven of golden eyes on her.

"You only think you do," Bella fires back lowly, her eyes narrowing.

Unspoken questions about their supposed acquaintance, spawning from the other Cullens, hover in the air. But they remain unasked, and consequently unanswered in favor of much more pressing issues; Jasper steps forward confidently, meeting eyes with Carlisle briefly before addressing Leah on everyone else's behalf.

"Why are you here?"

Leah shifts her gaze towards Jasper, who stands just to her right. She sneers, her upper lip curling over her teeth and looks pointedly away in the opposite direction.

He sighs audibly before crouching down so that he can look at her at eye level. Bella can feel him attempting to coax information out of the shifter. "What brings you here, to our home?"

"Don't play dumb, leech," she growls, pulling against Emmett.

"We won't know unless you tell us."

She growls louder, snapping at him. "Fuck off."

"You've got quite the attitude," Emmett comments good naturedly from above the two. "If we hadn't caught you sneaking around our place, I'd challenge you to a game of FIFA."

She doesn't respond to the would be challenge.

Jasper sighs again, turning his head upwards to look at Edward. The bronze-haired vampire nods once in acknowledgement, stepping forward so that he's directly in front of Leah, but politely respecting her personal space.

"I'm sure you understand you have broken the treaty," Edward begins. "All we are asking for is your reasoning."

Leah glares upwards at him, the black hair falling in her face giving her a more feral look.

Edward runs a hand through his already perfectly messed bronze hair. "I don't want to have to intrude on your thoughts."

"What are you? Some kind of mind reader?" she scoffs disbelievingly.

"Indeed I am, and this is your final warning."

"I don't owe you shit," the shapeshifter fires at him, turning her head away. "Do your worst, leech."

A quiet stillness settles over the room. Bella watches as Edward's shoulders tense a bit, only to relax into his previous posture a few seconds later.

He lets out a thoughtful hum before turning to address Carlisle and Esme first. "She came looking for her imprint – or mate, I presume – Daniel," Bella doesn't miss the widening of Leah's eyes as she turns them back on Edward; the bronze-haired vampire then slowly turns to look at everyone else in the living room, speaking as if the copper toned woman were absent. "She figured that after a while, if she couldn't find him at Isabella's and Daniel's home, there was a good chance he'd be here."

"Well, it's obvious you were going to kidnap him and hold him hostage at _some_ point," Leah replies bitterly.

"We didn't—"

"They didn't kidnap him," Bella steps forward, incidentally cutting off Edward's reply; anger has bubbled up again within her, defensiveness of the truth coating her voice. "And they're not holding him hostage," she continues, keeping her voice even. "He's being… unreasonable."

"Unreasonable," the restrained woman rehashes the word with apparent distaste, but something akin to recognition does flicker in the depths of her darkened brown eyes. "Please. Dan has told me all about you and him…"

"I'm sure he left out key points," Bella retorts, a fist curling at her side. "But what you don't know now is that he tried to kill Alice."

Leah juts her chin in the vampire's direction. "Oh, yeah. And he's told me all about you and your little obsession with _her._ "

Bella's blood goes from a simmer to a boil. How dare this wench speak that way about Alice. How dare this bitch act as if she has something on her and Dan's partnership. Does this Leah really think her mere days with Dan outweigh the lifetime of loyalty she has spent with him? Her murderous thoughts surface freshly, and now she's a whole lot less reluctant to act on them.

Outside calmness enters her being. She glances at the source – Jasper, who subtly shakes his head at her as if to remind her that violence and death don't always have to be the answer.

She's grateful for the gesture as she channels the calm, forcing herself to back down.

She breathes heavily through her nose, having collected herself. She opens her mouth, but the words that come out are not her own.

"What's this about an attack?"

The combined shock and disbelief sends Edward's voice to a pitch slightly higher than his normal. It's this unusual quality, the suddenness of his exclamation, and the meaning of his spoken words that bring in all pairs of eyes to focus intently on him, like pins to one of the ends of a powerful magnet.

He focuses on Leah, squinting his eyes in silent scrutiny. Eventually, the other pairs of eyes twitch from the vampire to the shifter as well.

Tense silence consumes the room this time.

Bella holds her breath.

 _This is how the Cullens are going to find out about Dan's plan_ , she thinks nervously. She refuses the need to glance at her side, at Alice. Her stomach drops and she can feel the guilt creeping up on her. _We should have told them sooner._

She has an urge to apologize to the pixie-esque girl, but she fights that too. And it's almost as if Alice can read her mind, sense her turmoil, her guilt, because a cold hand grazes lightly against hers comfortingly as if to say it's okay – let's fix it now.

( _Or salvage it_ , Bella amends. Because her instincts let her know this isn't going to turn out particularly well.)

"You're all going to be in for a rude awakening," Leah snidely remarks after a while, snorts as a strangely satisfied smirk twists her features.

Carlisle clears his throat, his face grimly serious. "Explain."

Leah just fixes the Cullen patriarch with a rebellious glare, her lips staying sealed shut.

"I see," Edward speaks instead, his face taking on a similar expression to Carlisle's. "Daniel and the La Push pack have been working together to launch an assault," he pauses, almost for dramatic effect. "On us."

"Geez, what'd we do to piss them off so badly?" Emmett makes a rather silly face, though his tone itself has the same grim quality found in every Cullen's face.

Edward stares at Leah as he answers, "They blame us for the missing and dead humans in the greater area."

"That's crazy."

"No one here as red eyes."

"Why would we start hurting people now?"

"We didn't break the treaty."

The replies all come at once, sending the room into a soft buzz. Bella chooses to focus on Alice, trying to read through her stony face. She's the only one who doesn't have an immediate reaction to the news, save for the slight pursing of her lips.

However, Edward rounds on Alice quickly, the moment her lips purse; while Bella can think freely, safe from Edward's mindreading power, Alice can't and must've accidentally let her thoughts slip.

And he had heard her.

"Alice! You knew? You knew about this?" the bronze-haired vampire questions indignantly. He runs both of his pale hands through his unruly hair, eyes wide and staring at Alice.

For just a split second Alice is like a deer caught in bright headlights, staring wide-eyed back at the mindreader. One glimpse at the nearly helplessly and utterly surprised look is all it takes for Bella to step in front of the pixie-esque girl. She uses half her body to shield Alice as best she can from the multitude of shocked eyes, the accusations that are sure to come flying.

"Alice, dear, why keep this from us?" Esme is the only one to speak, though her tone of voice is soft, hurt can be easily heard in it and Bella can't stand for it.

"I asked her to," the Hunter answers for the raven-haired vampire. "I confided in her, asked her not to tell. If you need someone to blame, blame me. It's my fault, not hers."

Bella catches a blur of movement off to her side; the only detail she's vividly able to see is blonde hair. She blinks, and then Rosalie is in front of her, within arm's reach. Pure anger dances like hot fire in her yellow eyes. A corner of her lip is pulled back over her teeth in a vicious a snarl. Venom shines in the light as it coats her deadly pearly white teeth.

"Rose!"

Bella is certain she would have been nursing a few more bad wounds had Alice not stepped in front of her, intercepting the blonde vampire.

"I, for one, whole heartedly do blame you," Rosalie yells at her, fixes her with a look that could choke the life from Bella if she were exposed to it for too long. "If it weren't for you, we wouldn't be in this situation."

Alice issues a low warning hiss. "You have your opinion. But you don't get to treat her like an enemy."

Rosalie shifts her scathing glare down to Alice, releasing her own hiss. "You trust her too much, Alice," she accuses. "For all you know, she could be the inside one for this whole thing."

"Come on, Rose, babe," Emmett tries to reign in his wife while adjusting Leah in his arms. Bella can feel the effects of Jasper trying to establish control over the growing conflicting emotions in the living room, trying to establish calm over everyone.

"That's enough," Esme exclaims, moving at vampire speed between Alice and Rosalie, breaking two resolute gazes and ending a mostly silent battle of wills. She practically drags the taller blonde from the future seeing vampire.

"It won't matter soon, don't waste your time," Leah suddenly speaks up, a sure smirk coming across her face. "Dan and I are missing; the pack'll be here soon. You all are dead any damn—"

Unexpectedly, Jasper swiftly strikes her in her temple. His hit lands with clean precision, with enough force to knock her into unconsciousness without leaving any sort of mark. She goes limp in Emmett's massive arms, dark brown eyes rolling into the back of her head before they slowly slide shut. – Bella can't help but to stare in total awe and amazement. Sure, she's been trained, and has trained, to develop such finesses and technique but it's still a sight to see when such a move is executed flawlessly.

"Apologies," the southern gentleman says quietly.

Carlisle nods in understanding, before turning to the burly, curly headed vampire. "Emmett, bring her to my study," he shoots Esme a look, some type of hidden communication occurring between the two. When they're done, the Cullen patriarch then turns to Alice and Bella. "As for you two, I'd like to speak to you both. In private."

* * *

Carlisle had wanted no more than a genuine explanation, a summary of what had lead up to the Cullens suddenly having to fight for their immortal lives. Bella had been expecting him to yell, to be angry, to show something other than this endless compassion he always seems to possess. She'd expected him to demand answers, pass along accusations at the both of them (mainly Bella, of course). If she were completely truthful, she'd have expected him to exemplify his fatherly role in forbidding Bella to see Alice, however childish the notion might have seemed.

He had just wanted a genuine and honest explanation.

So Alice and Bella had willingly given it to him. Bella had done a majority of the talking. She had mentioned how she tried – and failed – to convince Dan to not go through with his plan, while sparing the details of her conflicting emotions and her obligation to save him from being consumed by his own vengeance.

She had apologized for failing, for forcing him and his coven to be a part of a needless war that could have been easily preventable.

And then she had excused herself; she'd made a resolution to help the Cullens in this war, but she was going to need her weapons and vials of vampire blood, and they were located back at the house. Initially she could see that both Carlisle and Alice were hesitant – especially Alice – what with the looming attack of the La Push shapeshifters.

Alice had insisted on coming along with her, and Bella had hesitated in relenting to the girl's subtle demand. Bella adores her mate, yes, but she had secretly hoped to use the time alone. She'd wanted to recoup by herself, at the very least for an hour or two.

But now, as she steps through the front door of her house with Alice in tow, that hope will not exactly be the case. She can't say she's overly disappointed though – maybe the company of her mate would be better than that of her own thoughts. Thoughts she knows will constantly remind her this whole insane predicament is indeed her fault. It's turning into a sort of obsession, one she's simply unable to properly help, and she just can't shake it.

Not when it's true.

She shakes her head wordlessly as she trudges up the stairs, heads for her bedroom. She hasn't spoken to Alice since she'd announced she would essentially be escorting Bella. She's not upset with or mad at the vampire; she simply has nothing to say.

And to avoid having to say anything she traps herself in her own mind, focusing on her own thoughts as she rummages for weapons. Really, how did she find herself in such a situation? What went wrong?

Just a couple of months ago her and Dan, as fine as close as ever, moved to Forks. They'd gotten a tip off that werewolves (wolf shapeshifters in reality – the intel could have definitely been better) and vampires were among humans, in a relatively remote area. They'd expected the town to collectively be on edge, the locals to have plenty of "scary" stories to share. They'd expected some type of underground war already occurring between the "werewolves" and vampires; they'd figured they would have to be the ones to make it cease.

Then she had met Alice, had become acquainted with the rest of the Cullens, a who coven who pride themselves on peace and harmony with humans. The "werewolves" turned out to be nothing more wolf shapeshifters. The humans are treated almost as equals here. The town had been as sleepy as any backwoods town in the United States could possibly get.

In hindsight, they should have left upon this discovery. But things had happened so quickly, events occurring one right after another. Bella had found her One, something that only a minority of her kind find in their 250 year lifetime. Dan had supposedly found his One too, while also becoming steadily obsessed with killing the Cullens.

 _How did we get so far apart?_ Bella wonders as she pulls out blood vials, and one of her solid black pistols. Turning a shoebox upside down she dumps out a scare amount of bullets. _When?_

When did he become so blinded by hate and vengeance?

She remembers his words, how the jabs at Alice had been the ultimate stingers. Glancing over at the vampire sitting casually on her bed, Bella briefly wonders if she's truly blinded by Alice. Wouldn't that make her no different from Dan?

Upon catching the vampire's eyes she promptly looks away, despite herself. Her stomach flutters, and…

No.

It's all still surreal to her.

Her mate is a vampire. She's found allies, however unconventional, however rocky, with vampires who feed on animal blood.

Now, on the brink of supernatural war, she finds herself on one (Alice's) side while Dan takes up the other. They're both breaking their Code; they're not supposed to pick a side, only bring such wars to an end. But why did it have to come to war anyway? Why couldn't she stop the evident escalation?

 _When did Dan become my enemy?_

Frustrated, she slams the boxes in her closet around. Matters are so out of control, and Bella can't find anyone to place the blame on but herself. If she weren't so torn, acting so incompetent, she could – she should – have stopped this.

Just the notion threatens to crush her insides. The pressure is high, and literally anyone could die. The thought of Dan or Alice dying, the unwarranted deaths of others makes her sick to her stomach; has she really become this weak in such a short amount of time? Too weak to protect those close to her? Too weak to abide by the Code?

(Somehow, the Code is the least of her worries.)

As if she'd been reading Bella's troubled thoughts all this time, Alice sighs and the brunette can hear her shift on the bed. "Stop it."

Bella remains turned away from her, feigning ignorance, despite knowing of the likelihood that she'd indeed been caught. "Stop what?"

"You're torturing yourself."

Yes, she's definitely been caught. She cranes her head in Alice's direction but opts for silence. _But is it really torture if it's the unabashed truth?_

"Though you're pleading the fifth, I know what you're thinking," the raven-haired beauty stares at her, golden eyes unblinking. "So stop it."

"I'm sorry," the Hunter's apology is automatic. It's not totally genuine; she knows this is her fault, and she's not about to pretend like it isn't; denial will do no one any good.

Alice sighs again. "No one blames you, Isabella."

"Rosalie does," she responds quickly, the blonde's livid gaze flashing vividly in her memory. "And she's right. I mean, I could've stopped this."

"Don't concern yourself with her. You tried. It's not as if you sat around, doing nothing."

Trying gets people killed. Trying to be good, trying to be better than what you are, trying to make it… all of it can cost a person his or her life. "Trying doesn't cut it," Bella mutters.

The vampire crosses her arms over her chest, gracefully pushes herself off the bed. "What could you have done then?"

"Something more," she answers without missing a beat. "If I'd done something more then the wolves wouldn't be at your doorstep," she snorts at herself. "It's my fault you're in danger at all."

A dark eyebrow lifts, and then Alice flits so she's standing directly in front of the brunette. "Over the years my family and I have faced many dangers. We are not made of glass and we know how to defend ourselves."

"That's not what I meant."

"Listen to me," Alice urges gently. She presses a single digit to Bella's lips, shushing any further protest. "On top of my vampire instincts, I can see the future. I can see every outcome of any decision. Very rarely does something or someone – who isn't you – truly surprise me anymore," the vampire pauses and searches Bella's eyes. When she finds whatever she is looking for she continues. "Even I am unable to predict everything about everyone all the time. And sometimes with the prior knowledge, I can't change what happens in the end."

Bella's fingers wrap around the other girl's wrist, pulling her index finger from its resting place on her lips. She intertwines her fingers with Alice's hand, looking at her longingly, not liking the sad undertones hidden in her melodic voice.

Alice goes to say something else, but her words are lost on Bella as the brunette leans down, covering their minimal height difference, and presses her warm lips to cold ones. She hesitates in kissing her back until Bella uses her other hand to gently tilt the vampire's chin up. At that, she grips Bella's hand and sinks into the kiss and it all shoots arousal right down to Bella's core.

"Do you understand?" Alice checks in once they part. Bella nods, and the vampire kisses her again. "Tell me you'll stop taking fault for everything," she murmurs against her lips.

There's a thick fog growing inside Bella's brain but she remains lucid enough to tell her, "I won't blame myself. For everything."

"Promise me," she whispers, raking the nails of her free hand down the Hunter's arm.

"I promise."

Alice's next kiss has more fervor behind it, and Bella welcomes the enflamed passion. She uses an arm to encircle Alice's waist; her mate runs her hand through her chestnut brown hair. She could probably spend the rest of forever kissing this girl.

And it feels like she's doing just that. They part and meet again for more times than Bella can hope to count. They only part in respect of Bella's need to breathe oxygen. Each time their lips meet, hands roam a little further than the previous time. Her hand on Alice's waist tightens, and eventually her other hand moves upward to cup one of her breasts.

Alice arches her back, runs both her palms up Bella's arms to her shoulders and then down her midsection, ghosting over her breasts and stomach. The little gasp the vampire gives has Bella instantly hooked, and she wants to hear more.

She wants to feel more.

That thick fog that has invaded her skull and senses only grows thicker. She can feel Alice move backwards, her own feet stumbling forwards closer to the bed. Her control wanes fast, her arousal spiraling out of control once Alice nips at the underside of her chin, trailing kisses down the column of her throat.

She's so turned on, and it hits her like a hard brick; she wants her. Images run through her head of what they could do in this bed right here, right now. Bella groans lowly, a pathetic attempt to control herself, unable to put her desires into words. She then hesitates, is now even a good time?

 _Does Alice want…_

Alice bumps into her with the front of her hips, bringing the Hunter out of her episode of doubt. Bella swallows thickly; she settles both hands on the other girl's hips, fingers running along the cold skin where her shirt rides up a little. Alice looks at her with eyes that have gone from golden to damn near black, with eyes that simmer with animalistic need similar to the brunette's own.

God, Bella wants her. She really does.

"What?" Alice questions. Her voice is rough, covered in arousal, but far from agitated or pushy.

"I want you," Bella blurts out bluntly. She has to make sure…

"Okay," Alice answers simply. She kisses Bella deeply, wrapping her lithe arms around the brunette's warm neck. In one swift moment complete gracefulness, she falls back, pulling Bella onto the bed. "You can have me. But only because I want you too."

Dumbfounded, Bella hovers over her. She wants her too. Her amazing vampire of a mate wants her too.

She wipes the stupid look she know shows across her face, resumes kissing Alice. After a minute, Alice begins tugging at her shirt, and nervousness grips Bella.

Sure, she's had sex before, so by no means is she a virgin. But she's never done it with someone she… has a considerable amount of feelings for.

Shaking her cold feet, she leans up a bit and reaches for the drawer in her nightstand.

"Isabella?"

Bella ignores her briefly, the entirety of her own name grating a tad on her nerves. She's always hated the sound of it, how the syllables meshed together in a foreign sound that didn't translate very well to American English.

She finds what she had been looking for – one of the vials of blood she keeps stashed there – and downs its contents.

"I wanted us to be equals," Bella explains, tossing the empty glass somewhere off to the side, not particularly caring where it lands. "And for the record… just call me Bella. Please."

"Bella," Alice smiles radiantly, the newfound happiness emitting off her in waves. "Kiss me," she demands, tugging on the back of Bella's head.

"Okay."

How could she not? How could she deny such a request?

She can't.

She can't. So she's utterly mesmerized as Alice removes her clothes, and she fumbles rather ungracefully in the removal of her own. There're hands and lips and skin on skin and eventually it all blends together beautifully, harmoniously, and she's not sure about what belongs to who until her climax besieges her.

The only thing she seems to know in that one moment is the vampire in her arms.

 **A/N 2: I apologize again. Lots of life things happened, some good and some bad. I'll try my hardest not to let a month slip by without updates!**


	23. Chapter 22: Shattered Stone, part 1

**A/N: I don't want to spoil anything here... but there is a decent amount of described violence in this chapter. Just a fair warning.**

Chapter 22

When Bella awakens from her slumber, she finds herself not in her own bedroom. She's awakened by feathery kisses placed on her cheeks, forehead, nose, lips, and neck. The feel of those cold lips are familiar, so familiar. She sinks into their sweet caress, conscious to the world but keeping her eyes closed.

In the blackness behind her eyelids, she can't help but let her mind wander back to just a few hours ago. The wandering hands, the trailing kisses of lips and tongue, the sighs and soft moans of pleasure; it all is still so vivid for her…

It'd been amazing to share that with Alice. Better than she could have imagined in her dirtiest of dreams, exceeding the pleasure that been brought by her past hookups.

But this hadn't been a hookup.

This had not been just sex.

It'd been…

A finger jamming into her side makes her jump slightly, brings out a reflexive cough. Her eyes snap open to fixate on a giggling Alice beside her on the comfy bed.

"Don't look at me like that," Alice laughs, using the finger she had poked her with to trace under Bella's jawline. "I knew when you were awake. No use faking sleep around me."

Bella frowns. "I wasn't faking. I was just thinking. Relaxing."

Alice smirks knowingly, her eyes gleaming. "I could only _guess_ what you were thinking about," she sniffs the air loudly for emphasis – she had apparently caught Bella's… scent. "Penny for your thoughts?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Bella's lips quirk up into her own playful smirk as she sits up and leans on an elbow.

"I would. That's why I will raise my offer to a nickel."

"I'm not that cheap."

Alice leans closer to her, glancing down at the Hunter's lips before meeting her eyes. "Double, then. A dime."

"Still too low," Bella sighs dramatically.

"A quarter and a dime."

"Aren't they worth more to you than that?"

Alice leans further in, dragging her soothingly cold tongue along the side of Bella's neck. She shivers from the sudden, intimate contact.

"That's a fair price," the brunette snorts.

The vampire places a few open mouthed kisses where her tongue had been.

"Okay. Sold."

Alice moves up and kisses her fully, though not without smiling smugly into the kiss.

When they part, Bella takes a good look around the room. It falls on her this is where she had woken up after Victoria had attempted to murder her. But where exactly was she, then and currently now?

"Uh," Bella starts, clearing her throat awkwardly. "How'd I end up back here?"

"I carried you here."

"Back to this same room?"

"This is my bedroom."

"Oh. Oh! I didn't—it wasn't what I was… expecting."

Curious golden orbs eye her carefully and Bella feels a full-body blush coming over her. _You've got a way with words, Swan,_ she internally rolls her eyes at herself.

Alice still eyes her, a small smirk gracing her thin red lips as she asks, "What is it that you were expecting?"

"I don't know," the brunette coughs. Her own lips turn up at the cheekiness she's about to deliver. "Lots of pink. Frills. Maybe a Barbie collection."

The vampire snorts good naturedly. "My princess house and Barbie collections are not just for _anyone_ to see, understood?"

Bella blanches a little at not having the capacity to tell whether she's truly kidding or not. "Understood. Though, what I'm really curious about are the missing high fashion statements."

"Ah!" Alice flits off the bed, reappearing next to a door directly across from the foot of the bed. "Well, you see, this door leads to the wondrous kingdom that is also known as my walk-in closet."

"You—you're serious?"

The vampire's giggles fill the air. She dashes over to Bella, picks her up with ease, and then dashes back to the closet door. Opening it, she then places Bella down in the middle of the massive walk-in closet. Dresses, skirts, blouses made from all different materials in an endless array of colors line almost every inch of the room. High heels, sandals, and varying dress shoes litter the floor and the top shelves.

"Oh god, you _are_ serious."

"Nothing short of one-hundred percent," Alice grins up at her.

"Yeah, I see that."

"Good," Alice drawls, her voice taking on a cunning edge. She begins to circle Bella, pulling on the fabric of her plain T-shirt and the waistband of her worn jeans. "In fact, you should also see that one day soon we should play a quality game of dress-up."

Bella's eyes grow wider than plates. She slaps Alice's dainty fingers away. "Whoa! Okay, I don't think that's—hey? Hey, Alice? What's wrong?"

Alice has stilled completely, her muscles going stiff. It's not a vision that grips her, Bella realizes as she watches her mate focus her supernatural senses on something she has picked up on. She can only wonder briefly what it could be before wolves' howls and vicious snarls reach her ears, the faintest hint of shapeshifter hitting her own nose, and she herself stills as well.

The wolves are here.

Bella's mind scrambles as she moves to where her weapons are stored. Alice moves off the bed hurriedly, but still focuses intently on a singular spot on the spotlessly clean carpet, not moving otherwise.

Bella tucks the black pistol into the waistband of her jeans, the cool and light weight of the metal pressing into her lower back. She looks to Alice, struggles for words to comfort the girl – to subtly apologize, truthfully – but she can't find them (and she knows full well that Alice wouldn't accept them, nor her supposedly unwarranted apology).

War has come, and in the next final seconds, she and Alice were going to have to fight. She knows this, Alice knows this. What words could she say to make everything okay?

"They're here," Alice speaks out loud, acknowledging what they both already know.

The Hunter reaches for her but drops her hand, torn between touching her and giving her space that she's sure to want. Her heart aches more than it's ever had before. Each beat sends out a pain she can't accurately describe, but damn does it hurt enough to almost incapacitate her.

"Stay here," Bella says before thinking.

"My family is outside," the vampire answers solemnly, moving to the door. Bella can hear, read between the lines where Alice is getting at… the vampire wants to help her family, stand side by side with them in the battle.

Bella understands.

But that would mean they would more than likely be separated.

Alice shakes her head. "Everyone is outside."

Immediately, Bella recognizes that this means Dan has been left unattended in the basement. Someone will have to stay back to ensure no wolf attempts to duck a fight and release him.

"Dan can't be left alone," the Hunter finds herself subtly pleading. "It's too much of a risk. We can stay back, keep an eye on him."

Alice's eyes are glassy, filling with tears that will never fall. "I want to stay with you too," she throws her arms around the brunette, squeezing her. "You're right that someone needs to stay with Dan. But I have to go out there with them, Bella."

"No-!"

Alice places her index finger on her lips, following it up with a chaste kiss. "Trust _me_ , Bella. I'll come back to you. Go check on Daniel."

And then she vanishes, out the bedroom, out the front door. Bella's hands ball into fists, and she swears, punching the wall before sprinting down the stairs. Her heart beats achingly some more, and she feels she can rip it out and stomp it flat. She has a brief thought to just go out there with the Cullens, with Alice. But leaving Dan unchecked could put them all – especially Alice – in an even greater amount of danger.

But on a more selfish hand, she knows that seeing him will only make her hurt more. She's not sure how much more she can take on an emotional level, even being a well-trained Hunter in the midst of a supernatural war.

She pulls open the door leading to the basement, sprinting down those flight of stairs too.

Her breath catches in her throat when she reaches the bottom; Dan is nowhere in sight. There's only the broken steel-reinforced handcuffs laying by the pole, where _he_ should be. She looks frantically around the small space, eyes wide, inwardly panicking. _This isn't happening_.

This can't be happening.

Something akin to rustling sounds from behind her. Shocked, momentarily forgetting her years of grueling training and unsavory surprises, she slowly turns around.

She's caught off guard, barely catches sight of the silhouette at the top of the basement stairs before it rushes down the steps, effectively charging her.

She doesn't have enough time to properly react. She cries out in pain as her back smashes against the pole. She chokes a bit at the severely uncomfortable pressure a forearm puts on her throat. She struggles relatively weakly, the vampire blood she had ingested earlier but a trace in her system, until she meets strangely calm hazel eyes.

Dan's eyes glint distinctively, and Bella did not need a firsthand witness account of insane speed and strength to know he's hopped up on a large amount of blood.

 _What's he planning?_ She thinks while trying to formulate some type of hasty escape plan, not quite able to speak clearly as his arm flexes. The pressure on her throat increases, becoming painful. _Is he going to kill me?_

"Lay low," Dan whispers, his unkempt look giving him a sinister edge that perfectly contrasts with his softly spoken words. "Just stay down here," his free hand produces rope that Bella had failed to notice beforehand. "You'll be safer."

The pressure lets up for the couple of seconds it takes for her partner to wrap the rope around her midsection, securing her to the pole. She balks as he steps away.

"Let me go!" Bella's demand comes out breathlessly, lacking the bite and the means to make him do as she says.

"We'll talk later."

With that he's gone just as quick as he had ambushed her, the door slamming and locking in his departure. She screams after him, demanding he untie her, that he not do this. But he doesn't hear her. No one hears her.

Purely out of frustration she slams the back of her head against the pole. The welcomed pain explodes in her head. She pulls against the rope, her arms unmoving, her legs kicking. It gets her nowhere.

She's stuck here. She's stuck in this god forsaken basement while the Cullens and Alice are left to fend off the shapeshifters. And Dan.

God fucking damn it. She should have known. She should have fucking figured Dan would have something sneaky hidden up his sleeve. She should have been more aware. She shouldn't have been so caught up in her feelings, lost in her own head.

Gritting her teeth, hot tears threaten to fall from her eyes.

If Alice dies…

She bangs her head again, the pain incomparable to the pain she would feel of half her heart dying. Her arms tense against the rope once more. Cords in her neck show as she strains, her legs pushing off the pole and ground for any leverage she can find.

She stops, breathing heavily from the exertion. Hopelessness threatens to engulf her, held at bay by only her determination to get the hell out of this basement. She will not be trapped here. She refuses to stay here during the battle.

Dan's plan will not succeed.

Alice will not be permanently taken away from her.

She'll save them both. She'll find a way.

Bella tenses again, pulling against where the rope has her restrained. She's not totally sure if it's just her imagination… but has the rope slackened a little?

She does it again and again, tensing, pulling, and taking a quick break to recharge her strength. After a while she can definitely feel the tightness of the rope loosening, her movements becoming easier to execute.

After a few more times her efforts pay off. The rope loosens enough that it slides down both the pole and her body, and she can practically step out of it. She takes a moment to stare at her hands in disbelief, watching as she opens and closes her hands. Turning back to the rope, she glares at it. He must have tied it fast, but obviously not hard enough.

Fishing for the blood vial in her back pocket, she finds it and immediately downs its contents. The effects are nearly instantaneous, and she uses the enhanced speed to rapidly close the distance between herself and the basement door. Simply trying the handle doesn't open it; it appears locked from the outside. She lifts a foot up, preparing to drive the sole into the center of the door.

Instead, having caught a whiff of what she swears is smoke, she freezes. Her nostrils twitch as she inhales deeply.

 _Definitely smoke_ , she concludes.

But why? From where?

Her foot surges forward. The door bursts open with such a force that the hinges rattle noisily, threatening to break off. The lock does indeed break, and a bookcase and a sofa – which must have been used to block the door – fly to the other side of the room.

The burning smell is far more noticeable now. Outside the basement is hotter, the temperature having risen by several degrees. Smoke begins an assault on her eyes, forcing her to squint. Bella uses a hand to cover her mouth, to keep from unnecessarily inhaling the fumes as she zips through the house towards the front door.

The Cullen house is burning.

Dan had set fire to the house.

With her in it.

(Though the basement was obviously constructed of mostly concrete, and probably wouldn't have burned… but the sentiment still turns her stomach to lead.)

Her ears pick up the licking of the flames as they consume everything in their path, working to destroy anything they touch. With each passing second the ferocity of the fire grows. She's careful to avoid the deadly heat. Once she reaches the door, she becomes distinctly aware that is now another hazard that has the capacity to take Alice from her. It just isn't a sentient and living one.

Not like the manipulated wolf shifters, not like her misguided partner. But hazards all the same.

With little preplanning, except for that she has to get to Alice and that she has to fend off the shifters, she races into the grand front yard. Just like she had already assumed, the battle has commenced.

It all appears to happen in slow motion around her, fills her with dread and adrenaline. Everywhere she looks there is a wolf or two versus a Cullen. Her eyes track movements that serve either to attack with intent to either incapacitate or kill or to defend from such a fate. In addition to the smoke she can smell where blood has been spilled. Her skin prickles from the palpability of the conflict, setting her on edge.

Unable to find the Cullen she's looking for, the Hunter scans the fighting crowd again. Despite the carnage that surrounds her, Bella finds herself ecstatic when she locates Alice, who gracefully ducks out of the way of a charging wolf.

Bella scrambles to get to her, to help her. Her legs move with breakneck speed, feet pushing off the ground with such velocity that she literally kicks up grass and fresh earth.

Something massive, hard, and covered in fur careens into her side with just as much velocity. Air forcefully expels from her lungs with the surprise blow, and then again when her back collides with the unyielding ground. She grunts from the explosion of pain along her spine. Her clear vision of the dark early morning sky above swims.

She goes to roll herself to her feet after quickly regaining her composure, but grits her teeth in more pain as sharp and oversized teeth pierce into her lower leg. The wolf's maw clamps unmercifully down on her ankle, snapping several bones in the joint. Blood instantly soaks her pants leg. Using her free foot, Bella delivers a flurry of swift kicks to its nose.

The wolf snarls, sending vibrations up Bella's leg, rattling the fractured bones as her body attempts to heal repeatedly. It pulls her towards itself before spinning in a circle and using the generated momentum to toss her further away from Alice's location.

She lands roughly again, this time on her side. The shapeshifter doesn't let her catch her lost breath, snarling and rapidly closing the distance. In those few seconds, her ankle has healed partially. She braces herself, bends her injured but still healing leg towards herself. Once she determines her opponent to have entered her range, her muscles fire like a loaded coil, extending her leg and delivering a brutal kick to the thing's jaw with her hurting ankle.

The clean hit sends the wolf back some yards, giving Bella just the space and time she needs to get righted on her feet. She produces a blade from one of her pockets, flipping the knife up and locking it into place. She glances in Alice's direction – makes sure she's still okay – before assuming a fighting stance.

As she carefully watches the wolf balance itself on its four feet, she's reminded of the ambush she'd endured all those weeks ago.

The wolf bares its teeth menacingly at her, one of the bottom canines missing. Blood stains the light fur around its mouth, a mix of Bella's and the wolf's.

She catches its eye, and having stared into those very same orbs just hours before, Bella immediately knows who she's fighting. That angry, distasteful look in those eyes…

Without a doubt, this wolf is Leah.

Reflexively she grips the handle of the knife, glances down at its deadly sharpened point. She's participating in a war and fighting with lethal intent. Sinking this blade into Leah's chest will tear the girl from Dan. Sliding it across her throat will turn this closer in the favor of the Cullens, of Alice, of herself.

But still, any casualty will be senseless murder. So she feels compelled to talk her down.

Or at the very least attempt to.

"Leah," her voice comes out rough and gravelly. "It doesn't have to be this way. He's manipulating you."

Leah snorts and growls shortly, her hackles rising as if to say _Yeah fucking right_. She starts circling Bella; the Hunter does the same, mirroring her movements.

Though, Bella can see the doubt coming to life in the wolf's irises.

"Really, it doesn't," Bella tries to capitalize on that visible doubt again. She's forced to narrowly step out of the way as the wolf leaps at her with impressive speed. She doesn't have a chance to mount a proper counterattack. Sizing Leah's wolf form up again, she can't tell if the shifter is just that fast or if she let her guard down a little too much that time around.

Bella stares at the wolf, who growls lowly at her. "Think about it, Leah. The longer this goes on, the more likely someone you care about could die."

Uncertainty fills Leah's eyes for little more than a second. Her muscles unwind from their intensely coiled state, her fur falling from being held high. Instinct tells the Hunter it's a perfect opportunity for an attack but she refrains from acting on it. The display reminds Bella of a lost and scared puppy – she can't bring herself to attack her when she's so… vulnerable.

Leah's vulnerable moment passes. Renewed fury enters her eyes, her fur bristling to give her slimmer form a larger appearance. At this shift, Bella charges (but not without taking the extra second to glance over her shoulder again at her fighting mate). Leah easily sidesteps her thrown punch and tries, with vicious teeth, to latch onto Bella's arm.

There's an audible snap as her jaws turn up empty, save for the fresh blood on her teeth; her teeth had managed graze the brunette's skin, ripping it open some. The wound does not faze Bella, the edges of ripped skin starting to pull together as she moves to deliver a high roundhouse kick.

 _Damn, she_ is _fast,_ Bella thinks when Leah ducks to dodge her flying heel. She jumps over Bella's low knife slash as well, a paw swinging through the air as her counterattack. Bella rolls out the way, again putting distance between herself and the shapeshifter.

The reprieve proves short; their separation ends when they both charge forward. They dodge a number of each other's attacks. Snarls from Leah and grunts from Bella fill the air for a couple of minutes.

This stalemate comes to an end, too, when Bella fakes going for a low kick and the other female takes the bait. A definite opening presents itself and Bella seizes the opportunity to come up and step slightly aside. Her arm nimbly swings through the air to implant her knife's blade in the wolf's upper foreleg to the hilt.

Leah emits a pained screech. Bella anticipates her whirling around to bite at her arm, drawing her free arm back and delivering a crushing elbow to her snout when she does. For sadistic measure, she twists the knife firmly, injuring more flesh and pulling another screech from the wolf.

 _Just give up,_ Bella finds herself pleading with Leah internally, twisting the knife some more. _So I don't have to kill you._

Though a part of her wants to. A part of her longs to slit her throat, watch the blood bubble up and around the fatal infliction. But like she had said earlier: it doesn't have to be that way, does it?

She wants more than anything to prove that true.

Even over the female shapeshifter's loud whimpers and the other surrounding sounds of battle, Bella's ears pick up heavy movement from behind her. Feet rapidly approach, seemingly shaking the ground once close enough. In one movement, Bella dislodges the knife from the other female's flesh and slides across the ground, away from the second wolf that sought to ambush her.

The new darker colored wolf barges carelessly into Leah, knocking her off balance. It snarls at the female wolf as if reprimanding her for being in the way. It then shifts both its attention and snarl to Bella, ignoring Leah's glaring response.

Having previously experienced these things' penchants for coordinating attacks, Bella braces herself by alternating her stance, so that it's easier for her to evade.

The darker wolf, still snarling loudly, throws itself at her. Darting out the way with ease, it's a move Bella expects. She keeps light on her feet, anticipating an attack to come from her blind spot, courtesy of Leah, but it never does. She glances over at Leah's last known location – the female shapeshifter is still there, still glaring at her comrade, her stab wounds finishing their mending together.

Remaining wary, Bella dodges the second attack while keeping a keen eye on Leah. She watches as she gets in the fight, spearheading the next move; had the other wolf not got in the way with its own similar attack, Leah's strike had been fast and unpredictable enough that it could have been a successful hit.

But yet again Bella dodges, darts off to the side of the darker wolf. She takes advantage of the substantial opening, kicking it in the ribs hard enough to knock it over and to take Leah to the ground with it.

Leah's comrade recovers rapidly, biting at Bella's leg but ultimately missing by a hair. It swipes at the Hunter's midsection with a dull nailed paw, catches nothing more than her shirt's cheap fabric. It tears there, exposing the toned muscles of Bella's abdomen to the slightly chilled air.

 _Well, that was close_. The closest they've gotten to snagging her, really.

It's different – this time it's easier for Bella to fight off two of these things. _Lack of coordination,_ Bella mentally observes as she counters the darker wolf's not smart and obvious charge. It smashes into Leah for the umpteenth time, interrupting the shifter's attack, sending both shapeshifters tumbling into a messy and furry heap on the grass.

 _I could end this,_ Bella's mind whispers to her. Her natural and honed instincts are taking over – these wolves are weak when unable to work together. Should she use complete but well-timed lethal attacks she could definitely end this.

She could finish them and get to Alice's side.

Though she can hear the bigger wolf go for yet another obvious frontal attack, Bella turns her head to look towards her vampire. She's still fine, almost untouched, fighting off the wolves. But she's still in danger, and Bella can't have that. She can't stand that.

Due to her distraction the wolf has closed in on her now, and it's much too late for her to move her feet to dodge. She lifts a forearm to block the incoming devastating bite, large teeth sinking into her skin. She can't stop the wince from the piercing pain. Her warm blood leaks out in streams around the wolf's teeth, staining its gums, lips, and the fur around its maw; the pain only serves to fuel the growing darkness in the corner of her heart. Resisting the wolf's attempt to toss her like a rag doll, Bella steadies herself and digs her feet into the ground, planting herself there.

Disregarding its locked grip on her arm, the creaking of her ulna and radius fracturing under the intense pressure, Bella recognizes an opportunity. She could be well on her way to ending this.

She reaches for the pistol stowed at the small of her back. The wolf snarls, crushing her arm more, and Bella's instincts start to fully kick in.

Really, she doesn't _want_ to have to kill anyone. But her back is against a figurative wall, and she isn't left with a list of many choices.

So she grips the gun, pulls it from her jeans waistband, and presses it to the front of the wolf's head. She shouldn't feel bad – she's killed many supernatural beings in her time. But it just doesn't feel quite right, and she knows it's going to weigh on her conscious for the next few years to come.

Her finger squeezes the metal trigger anyway.

Just a simple press results in the gun firing with a resounding bang, its barrel flashing brilliantly for a millisecond. There's a brief squelching sound as the bullet enters the wolf's skull, piercing the bone to destroy brain matter. There's a sound that sounds faintly like a strangled choke and the snarls, the struggle of movement still altogether. Life drains from the wolf's eyes and its jaw goes slack, bloodied teeth dislodging from Bella's forearm. It twitches before toppling over to the side, landing lifeless on the green grass. Lifeless.

Dead.

Bella watches, largely (and oddly enough, to her very own surprise) unperturbed, as the shapeshifter phases to its human form.

She recognizes him as Paul, the shifter who had tried phasing and attacking her once before. Now he's lying here at her feet, blood pouring from the gunshot wound in his head and his mouth hung open. She can't say she explicitly cares that it's him, that she's killed him.

The knowledge does little to quell the giddy satisfaction that always seems to well up from within her after she's racked in another kill. She hates the feeling, but it's always there and she's only learned to accept and utilize it over the years; it helps to minimize the guilt, her ever worrying conscience.

It keeps her alive.

It's always times like this where she doubts the Order and its accompanying values and teachings the most. It's always times like this where she questions her true purpose on this earth. Why is the meaning of her sole existence to kill?

Her pondering is cut short by Leah advancing on her. She points the gun in her direction, a warning to stay back. The darkness hasn't abated yet, and that satisfaction from a fresh kill is still new and settling into her. She could very well give in to both, pull the trigger and kill Leah too. But, again, she doesn't want to. She can still hope to end this with… _less_ bloodshed.

 _Is that a pipe dream at this point?_

 _It is,_ she concludes, answering her own thought.

"I warned you," Bella speaks lowly, her voice shaking from a twisted mix of rage and giddiness. Hurt and disbelief are evident in Leah's eyes, the processing of her loss of a packmate not quite registering. Bella _did_ try to warn her; however, as she's experienced before, she should know that just trying isn't ever enough. She hates that. Hates that it's come to this.

Anger explodes in Leah's eyes as she snarls loudly. Bella's seen this look before, the intent to kill, and begrudgingly resigns herself to having to pull the trigger on her gun once more.

Movement from her peripheral vision forces her to hesitate. She tracks it – it's headed in Alice's direction. It's Dan.

He interrupts Alice's fight, catching the small vampire off guard, and snatches Alice up in his supernatural movement. He carries her off into the woods. And then, just like that, Alice is gone from the battlefield.

Bella screams.

 **A/N: Thank you to whoever has read this far! I want to say that you guys shouldn't worry about me (those of you who asked) everything is fine on my end. Just life gets in the way sometimes.**


	24. Chapter 23: Shattered Stone, part 2

**A/N: More violence in this chapter... just another warning.**

Chapter 23

"Out of my way!" Bella roars at Leah as the wolf intercepts her, blocks her from pursuing Dan. She forgets about the lethal weapons she has gripped in each hand; she could just dispose of Leah quickly and proceed to catch up to her wayward partner and kidnapped mate. However, she doesn't. The thought of killing her doesn't cross her mind until she's already made a decision, taken a course of action.

With her panicked thoughts and scrambling mind, she instead drops to the ground and slides under the female wolf. Once she's cleared her underside, she pops up and pumps her legs as fast as her body will allow in the direction she had seen Dan speed off to. She's well aware that Leah gives chase, can hear her paws hit the ground as she follows her.

Soon after, however, they stop.

She doesn't bother to look over her shoulder to understand why or how.

She also can't seem to bring herself to properly care; getting to Alice is Bella's top priority. Even after hastily putting her drawn weapons away she feels as though her legs are not moving fast enough. She sniffs the air, attempting to pick up either's scent.

Where are they? _They couldn't have gotten too far…_

She's growing more desperate, frantic, panicked, and nervous all at once. She doesn't know what she'll do besides loser her mind if she doesn't find them soon; she doesn't know what she'll do if she finds one of them dead…

(She makes a conscious decision to ignore the fact that Alice dying will most likely send her into greater grief.)

"—been waiting for this, ya know," Bella catches Dan's voice before she sees either him or Alice. "I gotta special way I'm gonna kill you."

She steps hard, pivots to her right, towards the perceived source of the spoken words. Kill, kill kill. The world repeats like an echoed mantra in her mind. It had been spoken with such malice, such clear intent. Dan and Alice. Kill. Dan wants to kill Alice and this strikes a bolt of fear into Bella's heart.

That cold fear only grows when she lays physical eyes on them. Dan leaps at Alice, extending a silver dagger towards her mate's neck as Bella closes the distance.

The female Hunter knows full well how nimble the vampire is, the competency she's proven in battle. But this knowledge is effectively thrown out the window as her body acts of its own accord and free will. All she comprehends is the danger that Dan and the silver in the blade poses to her mate; the silver would burn her, could easily incapacitate her enough for Dan to deliver a truly ending blow.

She couldn't risk it.

Piercing pain engulfs Bella's shoulder. She's inserted herself between Alice and Dan, absorbing any damage that would have been inflicted on the vampire. The silver blade of the dagger is invasive where it's embedded into her flesh, drawing her blood out of her body. Bella watches, wincing, the copious drops of the red liquid falling from her shoulder to the forest ground. She lifts her head up to defiantly look her misguided partner in the face.

"Bella!" Alice exclaims from behind her. She can hear the girl's growl. She can feel her attempt to step around her to get to Dan. Bella extends her arms so that they're in her way.

Bella stops her because his face is frozen in shock. For a second, Bella gets a glimpse of a Dan she's become well acquainted with over the years. In widened hazel eyes she sees the Dan who hated to make mistakes, who hated to see any one of his allies harmed.

She sees the Dan who wasn't obsessive over a grudge that will ultimately destroy him, the bonds with the people he cares about, and the things he lives for.

With a jerky motion he withdraws the blade from her shoulder, a tidbit of remorse mixing with the still present shock on his face. "Bella—I—wh—"

Gritting her teeth through the sharp pain, Bella places both her palms on each of his shoulders and pushes him away. Now that he is on his heels, her arm swings through the air and her fist catches him right on the cheek, ripping it open. She breathes heavily as her shoulder begins mending. Through just her eyes she tries to convey that she's going to defend her mate as long as she can stand; that this is not a game, that she _will_ hurt him.

But could she kill him?

She draws the gun from the small of her back, aiming the barrel at Dan. Her hand shakes, the odd giddiness still pulsing through her despite the uneasiness of pointing a lethal weapon towards her partner.

"Stand down," her words come out low, steady, and laced with threat. Turmoil still grips her on the inside.

His eyes flicker from the gun to Bella's rapidly closing wound before erupting into disbelieving anger. "Why?"

"You know why, Dan."

"Why?" he screams, lacking any of his usual spirit.

"Because this," she points with her other hand to the general direction of the fighting, to Dan's silver dagger, and finally to the ground beneath her feet, "is wrong."

Dan's grip around the dagger tightens. His face hardens. Bella feels Alice tense in reaction from behind her, but she continues.

"This isn't who we are," Bella's voice raises. Thousands of moments they've shared together as kids flit through her mind. Her heart and head hurt. "This isn't who you are."

" _You_ betrayed me," shaking his head, he takes a threatening step forward.

Bella makes a point of cocking the gun. "I didn't," she swears. "I would never."

"You're defending a monster! Pointing a gun at _me_!"

"What don't you fucking get? She's my mate!" Bella's words rip from her throat in a rage-filled scream. Her hand shakes more from the added anger, the increased harshness of her breathing. Her chest feels oddly hollow and her stomach has turned to lead.

"She's playing your emotions."

"I'm not stupid, Dan. We're together. We're meant to be."

Dan takes a moment, working his jaw, his hazel eyes as hard as steel. "She is using you," a guttural snarl tears from him. "You know, I locked you in the basement so you wouldn't pull this shit! I did it so you wouldn't get in the way! Why didn't you just stay there like I told you?"

Her finger squeezes the trigger. A bullet whizzes past his head. The warning shot doesn't so much as make him flinch. He continues his advance, staring Bella down the whole way.

"Stay back."

"No, if you're really on my side then put the gun down."

She reasserts her stance, keeping the gun between herself and his form. "Listen to me, back off. We can sort this out a different way."

"There isn't another way," he seethes.

"Trust me, okay? Step back. Put the dagger down."

"Bella, I ca—I don't wanna hurt you—"

There's a potent growl from behind Bella, and then Alice blurs past her, heading straight for Dan. She goes at him with all teeth, claws, kicks, and punches. Bella freezes as the two halves of her heart exchange blows, Dan avoiding the venom of the vampire's bites and Alice just dodging the swipes from the Hunter's silver dagger.

She can't pick a target. She can't pull the trigger. Her hand trembles around the gun. There's no guarantee who the bullet would strike should she pull the trigger. She has to save them both. Somehow.

But she can't.

With her body and mind paralyzed with indecision and anxiety-ridden fear, she's unable to will herself to do anything. So she subjects herself to watching their skirmish in stunned horror.

Dan tossing Alice into a tree is the only thing that snaps Bella out of her daze. She blinks, her heart lurching painfully under her breastbone and starts to make her way towards her mate.

She's stopped as Dan descends upon the female Hunter next. He pushes her, much like she had did him just moments earlier. As she stumbles backwards off balance, he throws a punch at her face. Bella can't hide the shocked noise that escapes her throat as she scrambles to block the hit.

Having left herself open and vulnerable on her opposite side, she doesn't see the second strike coming at all.

The butt of the dagger's handle connects squarely with her temple. White flashes across her vision. She grunts in pain, stumbling with the momentum of the swing. Her legs buckle and she halfway manages to catch herself as she tumbles to the ground below.

"Wake the fuck up!" Dan bellows over her as a thin stream of blood dribbles down the side of the brunette's head. "Don't make me hurt—"

Alice jumps him again, snarling and growling more furiously than she's ever had before. Bella's vision remains slightly blurred as the two fight again. The wound closed moments ago, but she still feels the hit's effects as she wobbles back onto her feet, holding her head, and forces herself to recover quickly. She feels it physically and mentally; Dan has pushed her, jabbed her in the back and arms a few times, and they've wrestled roughly – but he's never outright struck her.

Just when she recovers her gun and rights herself on her feet she's met with the sight of Dan's blade piercing Alice's side. All the vampire mixed blood in her veins runs cold, her stomach feeling like its collapsed under its own weight. She sees the thin smoke rising from Alice's side, the silver properties reacting to touching a creature of the night, effectively paralyzing her. Her mate shrieks in pain.

"Alice!" Bella screams, instinct telling her to move, to do something, to do anything.

Dan's already ahead of her, pushing the blade in her deeper, twisting it.

That's when Bella knows.

That's when she sees clearly she's gonna have to take a shot at him.

It's definitely risky, but she has to do it. She aims, finger depressing on the trigger. She has to shoot him. There's no other way.

 _Let my aim be true._

However, the gun never fires; Bella hears a guttural snarl, feels the rush of movement from something heavy and fast behind her.

A wolf's maw clamps down on her gun arm's shoulder, teeth ripping through the area close to where it connects with her neck. Her blood spurts out from around the merciless teeth, running down her body and dripping on the moss beneath her. She closes her eyes from the explosion of nearly overwhelming pain.

Alice calls her name, her voice snapping the female Hunter's eyes open. She pulls against the wolf, but its teeth only sink further into her. She's rooted in place, unable to move. She grits her teeth, a string of curses running through her head. Alice is in trouble, she's in trouble, and this is starting to look so… bleak. Hopeless.

Dan pulls the dagger from Alice's side, her flesh hissing more from the retreating silver. He moves behind her, taking her up into a classic hostage position; he grips Alice's lower jaw with his free hand, his other holding the silver blade up above the pale expanse of her throat.

"Don't you fucking dare," Bella hisses dangerously at him. She gives one good tug against the wolf, but winces as more of her blood pulls from her sustained wounds.

His hazel eyes narrow at Bella, but his next words aren't directed at her. "You always got the best timing, Leah. Love ya."

Leah growls in affirmation around the large piece of Bella's upper half in her mouth.

Alice struggles valiantly, no doubt weakened from the invading silver, against Dan's sure grip. He takes the edge of the dagger's blade and places it on the hollow of her throat. The tip of it presses against her flawless skin, wedging itself just underneath. She stops moving as thin smoke forms, her face screwing up in silent pain.

"Not so tough are ya now, pipsqueak?" he goads at her, a sickeningly smug smirk crossing his mouth. It widens as he drags the blade meticulously over her exposed throat.

Bella tenses, straining. "Dan-!"

"Shut up!" he points the dagger in Bella's direction, the top half of it stained with Alice's deep red blood. "Just, shut the fuck up."

"Let her go!" Bella orders in a low and threatening voice.

Dan sneers. "Or else what, Boss Bella?" he doesn't wait for her to generate a response, plunging the blade back into Alice's very slowly healing side wound.

At Alice's cry of pain, Bella's rage swears she could kill him. She struggles against Leah's strong jaws, ripping open the flesh that has attempted to heal around the wolf's teeth.

"You know, I love you too, Bella."

His words, combined with the renewed pain, force her to still.

He leaves the dagger stuck in Alice's side. He snorts, looking at Bella. "Don't act so shocked, damn it. You're my best friend."

The female Hunter narrows her eyes at him.

"I don't tell you it enough," strangely enough hazel eyes soften considerably even though his grip on the dagger turns white-knuckled. "It's true. You're the one I've cared the most for in this world."

He sighs.

"And Isaac. I loved him too. He was the best brother anyone could ask for. I looked up to him. I miss him, ya know?"

"Dan—"

"Did I ever tell you the full story?" he snorts. "Well, 'course I didn't. I was jealous of you during our Trials. You always did good, better than me. And you were annoying about it too, fucking full of yourself," he laughs, the sound empty and bitter. "I didn't want you to know. I didn't want to ask you for help. So I asked Isaac."

Bella struggles against Leah more. Her strength is beginning to evade her, the accumulation of her blood loss wearing heavily on her body. The ground is saturated, no longer green, and soaked with her red life.

She has no choice but to listen as she tries to think.

"He blew me off a few times until one day, between hunting, he had the time. He took me out and we spent the day training," Dan smiles at his memories. "That night he caught whiff of a vampire. He decided to show me how hunting is really done even though he wasn't supposed to… and they killed him right in front of me. He protected me. I shoulda died."

A completely uneasy silence settles over the four of them.

"You understand me, right Bells? Remember Jaden?" Dan says abruptly. He lets go of the dagger's handle and reaches for one of his back pockets. "Vampires took Jaden. Vampires took Isaac from me. I'm not letting them take you from me too."

"I'd never harm her," Alice grinds out.

"You'll kill her, you fucking monster!" Dan screams at the raven-haired vampire. He removes his hand from his pocket, a lighter gripped firmly in his fingers. He places his thumb on the switch and stares back at Bella. "I'm saving you, Bella."

Maybe it's a side effect of her building rage finally exploding, but Bella gains another moment of clarity. She finally sees what's in front of her, finally bears an unabashed firsthand witness of Dan's all consuming hatred. She finally understands the gravity of it all. He's too far gone; he's in a place where not even she can reach him. The Dan she once knew is forever lost; captured and transformed into the embodiment of hatred in front of her.

He thinks he's saving her. But there's absolutely no saving him.

With murder deep in his eyes, he flicks the lighter and a fire sparks to life. The soft tick of the mechanical device is all it takes for Bella to summon a dormant strength within her despite her suffered wounds and extensive blood loss.

She'd never dropped her gun, and she uses her hand to deftly angle it towards the wolf, fighting the searing pain. She manages to pull the trigger twice, two shots and Leah's pained howl sounding milliseconds afterwards. The shapeshifter releases her. She reaches down, lifting up her pants leg and drawing her stone incanted blade from her shoe. Then with still blinding speed, Bella charges at Dan as he brings the flame just under Alice's chin.

She doesn't think, she just does what her primal side directs her to do.

She pries Alice from Dan's vice like grip, tossing the vampire a few feet away. Her knife hand draws back, a thumb pressing the button to release the blade from its confines in the handle. At the audible click, her arm then shoots forward for his center mass.

Time slows as the blade's tip punctures the soft flesh just to the left of his sternum. It sinks further and further in, disappearing in his chest, only stopping at the hilt. She can feel his heartbeat through the blade; she's stabbed him in the heart.

It's too hard for her to believe that she's just delivered a fatal blow to her partner, her best friend. However, when she looks down at her hand, now covered in the warm redness of his blood and dripping the red liquid down to the moss beneath them both, it becomes confirmed reality. Numbness begins to settle into her fingertips, accompanied by a growing faintness. She slowly tilts her head back up, eyes wide with her apparent disturbance.

In hazel eyes, sadness, hurt, utter shock, and betrayal reflect back at her. One of his hands moves over top of where hers is gripped on the knife, futilely attempting to push her away. He opens his mouth, but winces as he chokes on his own blood. She can feel his heart shudder from the exertion, its erratic beating slowing down – the blade obstructs his ability to heal and she knows it.

"I… I didn't think it had t-to be this way, y-ya know?" he opens his mouth for a second time, rasping out the words. More blood spills out, running down his chin.

Bella shudders at the sound of his dying voice. Shakily, she reaches up to settle her fingers in his unruly dark hair. Gripping as gently as she can manage on the back of his head, she brings their foreheads together.

"Dan—I," she starts, a single broken sob escaping her. Her vision isn't blurry nor do her eyes sting, but she feels the wetness of tears on her face; she witnesses Dan crying for the first time since his brother was killed. "I'm… I-I love you."

His tears are overflowing now, his body shuddering as he involuntarily relaxes onto Bella's switchblade. His breathing has become shallow, his lungs wheezing as they struggle to draw fresh oxygen. She can feel his heart giving out, and she can't take his suffering anymore.

"I'm sorry," Bella whispers so faintly she's not sure if she had thought the apology or actually said it. Her thumb brushes over the engraved incantation in the knife's handle. Blue glows faintly around it, pulling some of her energy and power and pouring it into itself.

Dan's fingers twitch once, twice. He exhales the last bit of life in his body as his heart turns to stone.

The full weight of his body sags forward, limp and dead against Bella. Another sob escapes from her throat, and while her cheeks remain wet from Dan's tears, she can't form her own. Unlike when she coldly murdered Paul, there's no post-kill giddiness. She doesn't know what to think, how to even begin to feel. She can only feel the numbness; that same numbness that has slowly crept from the tips of her fingers, up her arm, and settling into the hollow that is now her chest.

Dan is gone. He's gone forever.

She's unaware of the entire outside world; she's completely oblivious to her stone incantation releasing. Stiffly, and with jerky movements, she withdraws the blade and lays him carefully on his back. With shaky bloodied hands she reaches for his face, delicately traces his jawline and the peaks of his cheekbones.

She's killed her best friend, a person close to her who she has known her entire life.

Something no doubt crushes her soul, yet she can't even shed a single tear. Her throat has now become affected by the cold numb feeling and she absently reaches for it. Her blunt nails drag across the skin there, leaving red marks in their wake. She hardly notices the dull pain.

Her heart sinks down to unreachable depths in her hollow chest. Before she had thought Dan as unreachable, but now he definitely is out of her reach. He's out of everyone's reach.

He's dead.

She's killed him.

A great howl emits from behind her, sweeping away her broken thoughts. She starts, her heart hammering wildly – reminding her that she is indeed alive – and reaches for her blade. It's Leah – surely the wolf is going to come after her with lethal intent.

Bella looks frantically to Alice.

She's going to come after Alice too. She stumbles up, halfway crawling towards and reaching for the raven-haired vampire. She can't lose her now. She's sacrificed Dan's life for her.

Alice is all she has left.

The howl gradually morphs into a raw scream. Quick footsteps follow, and Bella cranes her neck to look over her shoulder. Leah has dropped to her knees beside Dan's fresh corpse. Her hand hovers over his fatal wound, fingers just catching the stickiness of his blood. In a snap of movement, she brings the upper half of his body into her chest, cradling his lolling head in her arms. She mutters incoherent words, but Bella can't hear her outright crying.

Bella shifts so that she can keep an eye on Leah. She mimics the grieving shapeshifter's movements, scooping Alice into her own arms. She has to be sure the other girl is real – not some figment of her sick imagination – and that she's still here with Bella.

She watches as Leah abruptly drops Dan's body onto the ground. Her fist pounds into his chest as she yells in saddened frustration.

Alice's coldness seeps through to Bella's skin, doing nothing to abate the tingling numbness. It contrasts severely with the warmness of Dan's life liquid coating her right hand. But she's there, at least Alice is here, safe and with her.

Guilt grips her at that thought – she shouldn't be relieved that Alice is still with her. She should be crying her heart out over Dan. She should be cradling his dead body like Leah.

Yet the tears won't even come.

Alice's arms snake around her waist, and Bella welcomes the reciprocated touch. If she's brutally honest with herself, she greatly misses her touch…

Both Bella and Alice detect movement in Leah's direction, though it's not Leah herself. A black wolf – Sam, Bella is positive – watches them with calculated yellow eyes. A few wolves gather at his flank, low growls emitting from them. Their yellow eyes also glow eerily in the rising sunlight.

Bella's hold on Alice tightens, and she feels the smaller girl tense and hears the low warning hiss that falls from her mouth.

Sam ignores them, placing his focus upon Leah. Her copper-toned face is crumpled in emotional agony, but there's a fire catching in her eyes. Despite whatever realization she has come to, she clutches desperately at Dan's clothes, a fist balling in his shirt. The tears come profusely, bigger than before. Her face crumples into all out anger, and Bella gets the feeling this sudden anger is not exactly directed at her…

Sam's massive head shoots back. He releases an echoing howl from his throat. The other wolves howl in unison, the sounds overlapping and loud in Bella's ears. One by one the entire pack gathers around Sam, seemingly appearing out of the trees surrounding the alpha.

 _This is it,_ Bella thinks. Their odds are slim and stacked heavily against them but she has nothing left to do but fight.

Their howling stops altogether when Sam's head swivels in Bella's and Alice's direction. He places a black paw forward, his eyes locked with the Hunter's. He then leans down and gently takes Leah into his large jaws. The female shapeshifter struggles against his sure grip, reaching out for Dan's body. Sam growls, the sound surprisingly gentle, as he tosses her on his back.

Another wolf takes Dan by the arm and slings him over its back in the same fashion. All of the wolves stare unblinkingly at Bella and Alice.

Sam's upper lip curls over his teeth before he turns away from the Hunter and vampire. The rest of his pack follows his lead, every last one of the giant shapeshifting wolves disappearing into the brown and green thick of the forest.

 **A/N: Yes, that was planned all along. Dan had to die - there was no saving him. Except in death. Sometimes we think it's easier for us to hold onto our hatred until changing our minds for the better is too late an option for us.**

 **We are surely approaching the end in a few more chapters. I'll try to be quick in getting the remaining chapters out. A major thank you to everyone who has clicked through the story this far! :D**


	25. Chapter 24: Shattered Stone, part 3

**Chapter 24**

 **A/N: I've never liked trigger warnings, but here's fair warning that there is more mentioning of death. Nothing gruesome.**

Though the wolves have gone, fresh surges of adrenaline continue to flow through Bella. She lets out an unsteady breath – one she had not known she'd even been holding. Her mind comprehends that the immediate threat has gone, disappeared, but her body is late to receive the message.

However, the numbness is still there, growing and expanding, filling up her chest, taking over her body and mind and there's really nothing she can do about it.

Alice taps her upper arm with such a delicacy that it makes Bella jump. She turns her rather empty gaze to the vampire (she glances down at the just closing cut on her neck, the halfway mended stab wound on her side before meeting her dark gold eyes).

Alice inclines her head and Bella immediately understands the question embedded into the gesture: _Are you okay?_

No. No she's not okay.

But she can't tell her that.

Bella looks over at Dan's spilled blood that just begins to be absorbed by the already saturated earth. She feels as though she's trapped in a cold place that's very far away. Is it possible for her to be okay?

She doesn't think she'll ever be okay.

Alice taps her again because of her lack of outward response. The Hunter withdraws from the girl's touch she'd welcomed not minutes ago, shaking her head (she doesn't trust her own voice) and steps in the direction she's sure the Cullen house lies. Alice noticeably hesitates in following her lead, but eventually she falls into step just behind the brunette.

They don't get too terribly far. Bella counts Alice's uneven exhales of discomfort and the number of times her feet hitting the ground fall into a brief unsynchronized cadence; she notices how the vampire lags behind her a fair amount, struggling to keep up. So she abruptly stops and turns around.

"Get on my back," Bella's voice doesn't even sound like her own, so removed, rough and just… cold. Emotionless.

Facing the smaller girl, it's far easier for her to determine that she's trying to hide her pain. The silver has taken its toll on her.

"I'm fine," Alice protests, attempting to step past the Hunter. "Let's keep—"

Bella grabs her wrist, halting her. "No. You're hurt," the other girl's stubbornness reminds her of Dan. She has to fight the sickness that creeps out her stomach and up the back of her throat. "Do it."

None of Alice's muscles move – not even a twitch – before she sighs through her nose and moves onto Bella's back. Her lithe arms wrap around the base of her neck. In turn, Bella slides an arm under each of the vampire's legs on either side of her waist, holding her and providing additional support.

Bella resumes their journey. Alice rests her chin on the brunette's shoulder. Her gentle weight against her brings a small miracle of comfort to Bella as the cold droplets of rain hit her face.

Rain.

She hadn't even registered that it'd began raining.

She's looking up at the sky when they break the tree line into the Cullen's yard. The dark clouds lighten up; the sun is just starting to rise.

And there's a huge column of smoke billowing from the Cullen house.

Alice squirms on her back, and Bella reluctantly lets her down. They stand side by side, both observing the dying flames, partially doused by the falling rain, licking at the materials used to build the house. The Cullens litter the front yard, the coven preoccupied with checking on each other's wellbeing instead of gawking at their burning house.

Alice hitches a sudden sob. Bella extends a hand towards her, preparing to comfort the vampire; she can't let her drown in numb sorrow. She can't let her become unreachable to her too.

Her hand hovers uselessly where Alice's shoulder would have been – the girl has taken off towards the burning house. Panic seizes Bella temporarily before she springs into action and chases after her. She catches her, wrapping both her arms securely around the raven-haired vampire's petite waist. Her front presses tightly to Alice's back, and for the first time in what seems like forever, Bella can feel her own rapid heartbeat pulsing at her.

She thrashes against the Hunter. Despite her tininess and her still recovering injuries from the silver, she's surprisingly strong. Bella has to flex her arms hard to keep her from breaking free and potentially moving closer to the hot and deadly flames. She doesn't think Alice is stupid enough to get herself killed – Bella just doesn't trust the fire. It's unpredictable. It's a risk she's unwilling to take, seeing as she's already lost one half of her heart today.

Alice ceases to struggle after a while, falling to her knees on the manicured grass, and Bella follows. Sobs wrack her frame, a perpetual wetness that will never fall brimming her eyes (Bella doesn't need to see the tears to know they're definitely there) as she cries openly. Perhaps the weight of the late night and early morning has finally gotten to her mate, but Bella refuses to believe that this burning house tipped her so far over this mental ledge…

Swallowing thickly, Bella gets a wild hair to count the Cullens. One, two… there are six present, including Alice.

She counts again. Six.

Again.

There's only six of them.

Where's Jasper?

Bella's head snaps to the flames burning in front of her. The loss hits her and with a sudden clarity – and a strikingly high dose of fresh familiarity – she understands Alice's pain. She understands the reason for her crying, the sudden onset of her heavy grieving.

Jasper died during the battle.

She's still entirely too numb to her own loss, the last of her two murders, to properly comprehend another. But Alice's grief seeps into her through this connection that they have seemed to establish, makes her feel a dull ache underneath the surface of her own subtle drowning. In a strange way she's glad Alice is crying – she's glad her mate, unlike her, can feel something other than a void of nothingness.

It also reminds her that Alice is alive. Though she's obviously hurting, she's alive and here. Bella tells herself that's what matters.

That doesn't mean she likes seeing her in pain.

Bella leans herself and Alice away from the dark shadow that suddenly casts over them. Rosalie towers over the couple.

The intimidating blonde stares at Alice for long seconds, her yellow eyes… soft. For Alice's privacy, Bella is tempted to tell her to fuck off until Rosalie turns her gaze on her. That softness vanishes within in a second, in its place forms a hardness that Bella can't accurately read.

"He died saving you," Rosalie tells her pointedly.

An unexpected gasp escapes Bella. Her first thought is that she had never needed saving, that Rosalie had been grossly mistaken, but then she closes her mouth and really thinks about it. It takes her a while to rewind through her part in the battle before she finds a particular memory. She latche son to it, replaying it.

What – or who – had stopped Lead from immediately following her after Dan snatched up Alice… it must have been Jasper, she concludes.

She recalls the words he spoke during their talk.

He died defending his family. He died defending an ally.

He died defending Alice's happiness.

By all means it's a good death for a soldier at heart. But it's still heartbreaking all the same. It should have ended with no casualties. Injuries, more than likely, but absolutely no casualties – especially from Alice's family.

Bella dips her forehead so it rests near the crook of Alice's neck. She presses a chaste kiss to the fabric covering her shoulder blade. She's failed her.

She's failed her in every sense of the word "fail."

They're alive, but she's failed her and she's not sure how either one of them will recover from this. Her failure

Bella's failure.

There's the shuffling of feet somewhere off to her left and she cannot be bothered to lift her head up to see who has approached her and Alice now. She only looks up when she hears a soft thud and the renewed crackling of a flame – something has been tossed into the fire.

She stares transfixed at the naturally destructive dancing of yellow, red, and orange. Upon squinting she recognizes the shape of a severed head. It shocks her, invokes a quiet gasp from her throat, and when she scrutinizes it further she has a horrific realization. The burning head is the face of that young male cashier who tried hitting on her all those weeks ago; she'd also seen his photo posted on the internet, under missing persons.

Mike Newton.

Just how many people had to die?

Bella looks questionably to her right – at Rosalie – and then to her left. Emmett and Edward stand there, both staring unblinkingly into the deadly fire.

"He was made into a newborn," Edward informs her solemnly, as if he could pry into Bella's thoughts. His gift doesn't work on her, but his perceptiveness of people makes him somewhat… off putting. "The wolves tossed the head at us before attacking, claiming they had only taken care of half the problem."

The Cullens were the other half, Bella thinks as she stares at the slowly disintegrating head; newborns don't burn as quickly as older vampires.

Yes, this only adds to the extreme total of her failure. She's only becoming more numb. She's not sure if can feel her fingers anymore.

She still holds onto Alice, who still cries in her arms.

People died where they shouldn't have died. Bella should have been able to efficiently help resolve the situation… maybe, due to her apparent high levels of incompetence, she should be the one burning in the hot and deadly flames herself…

Her arms loosen around the vampire. She's made a promise to Alice not to totally blame herself. She struggles to keep it, if only in an effort to let her mate down on that front as well.

Their current predicament makes that exceedingly difficult.

Rosalie takes advantage of her lax grip, Bella's distractedness, to pry Alice away from the Hunter. The loss of the girl's closeness is more than just a physical one. She shoots to her feet, hands curling into angry tight fists as bubbles of anger form underneath the bottomless layers of her numbness.

The taller blonde hisses warningly at her and pulls Alice away farther when she steps closer. "Can't you take a hint?" the words come out scathing, almost mocking, and Bella has to uncurl and then again curl her fists at her sides to keep herself in check.

Instead of slicing Rosalie's throat open with silver, Bella finds herself letting loose her own countering growl. "Go away," they're the only words she can think of to convey her desires. _Quit butting in between me and Alice_.

"Go away?" Rosalie echoes her, spitting the words. "You want _me_ to go away? Look around you. Isn't this enough damage for you?" she gestures towards Alice, the action's implication drawing another growl from the brunette.

"Rose," Emmett tries to interject.

Rosalie ignores her husband. "Maybe it's about time you saw your way out our now burning door. Do you understand that? I knew you were nothing but trouble. Leave Alice alone!"

She can't just… leave. Simply leaving is not on Bella's radar. Vampire blood still thrums strongly and hotly through her body. She still has tingles from her two previous kills. If she absolutely has to, she'll kill Rosalie too.

"Rosalie!" Emmett raises his voice to a near shout, moving so that he's close enough to touch the raging blonde bombshell. His exasperation is rather out of character. Uncharacteristically, he runs his big hands through his loose curls. "Listen to yourself. Don't do this, alright? Think about what you're saying."

"I _know_ what I'm saying. I stand by my words from yesterday," she bites back at him, her fixated glare never moving from Bella's form. "And Alice needs her damned space from this— _Put me down_!"

With minimal effort, Emmett has scooped his wife up into his massive arms. She bangs her fists on his back, tossing her head so that wild and long blonde strands go everywhere, and shouting words Bella can't quite be bothered to decipher. Her screaming grows quieter, easier to block out when he carries her towards and past the tree line surrounding the Cullen's burning estate.

Carlisle and Esme then swoop in; Carlisle collects Alice and Esme addresses Bella. The Hunter looks desperately past the matriarch at her mate, hoping that Alice will shy away from Carlisle and seek a closer position to her. It stings badly when Alice refuses to meet her eyes. Her invisible wound only opens further when the pixie lets the Cullen patriarch guide her away without so much as a look back in Bella's direction.

Bella stares emptily down at her own palms, her dirty hands still coated in her best friend's drying blood. The sight of it caked onto her skin sears into her mind, sure to become yet another thing that will haunt her for the remainder of her life. Alice's subtle rejection still stings freshly, just seconds old, and it causes Bella to question herself. Was any of this pain truly worth it? Was it worth sacrificing her best friend's life for Alice's?

All of this blood spilt… What if it's all for nothing? Can she live with her decisions then?

"Pay no mind to Rosalie and her rudeness," Esme's gentle words prove just enough to drag Bella from her swirling and suffocating thoughts. "She's just having a… hard time."

"I won't leave Alice alone," Bella says defiantly, the words slipping out. She has to cling to something, even if it's out of fear she will be cast aside after sacrificing so much. How ironic would it be for her to end up totally isolated and alone?

She's not sure she can bear such a fate.

A knowing smile forms on the older woman's heart-shaped face. "I wouldn't expect you to ever want to."

Bella blinks, at a lost for what to say. She had expected for the matriarch to have opinions not too unlike Rosalie's after all that has happened.

"However, I will say," and Bella instantly fills with dread, positive that she will not like the Cullen matriarch's next words. "You should go home and rest."

"No!" Bella protests immediately, stomping her foot.

Esme raises a single brow, almost bemusedly.

" _No_!" the Hunter shouts louder. She violently shrugs off the comforting hand Esme attempts to lay on her shoulder. "I want to stay with her."

Esme shakes her head.

"Listen, I know that this whole thing is shitty. I'm shitty for not being able to stop it. I'm sorry, okay? I'll help you guys do whatever. Whatever you need, you have it. But I want to—"

"You've already helped us more than you could ever know," the older vampire cuts her off with gentle words and a gentle tone to match. She places both her hands on Bella's shoulders, which the brunette allows this time, shaking her slightly. "You're exhausted on every level, child. You may not feel it yet, but you are."

Bella has another protest lined up, but she falters. The other woman sounds so much like the elder Hunters from when she had gone through her trials that feels as though she has no other choice but to shut up and listen to reason.

"We can no longer live here. We have decided to move with another friendly, vegetarian coven – our cousins, if you will – in Alaska," the Cullen matriarch informs her softly. "Alice will need some time to… recoup."

"What? So you're taking her from me?" inevitably, a lump develops in Bella's throat.

Fate is so cruel. This can't be true.

"We're not taking her from you, or you from her," Esme tries to assure her, but Bella isn't really hearing the other woman – not until she slides one of her hands down the Hunter's arm to grip a bloody hand.

Bella looks at her, unable to keep the resentfulness out of her eyes and voice. "Then what do you call it?"

The vampire simply smiles, and just when Bella thinks she isn't going to receive an answer, she says:

"She just needs some time. She'll come back you."

* * *

The only thing that had driven Bella back to her dark and empty house – away from Alice – were the sounds of sirens closing in on the Cullen property. She wanted to stay, but she hadn't wanted to risk anything with the human firefighters on the scene, so she had deemed it best to leave.

She had all intentions on returning later, once the firefighters determined their help was no longer needed and left, but her body had betrayed her. The majority of the vampire blood had drained from her system, leaving her with barely enough strength to carry herself to bed. Unabashed exhaustion had caused her bedroom to spin as she collapsed on the bed. Her eyes had rolled into the back of her head, her eyelids slipping closed fast, her head lolling absently on her pillow. The combined softness of her comforter and mattress had lured her into a deep sleep, despite the early sun's brightness shining brilliantly behind the grey clouds.

Drool crusted the corners of her mouth when she awoke from her slumber. Her muscles ached a little less. Bleary-eyed, she had sat up and looked down on herself – grime and blood still coated her, smearing onto her sheets. She smelled absolutely horrible. She pushed herself up to stumble into the bathroom.

Upon catching her disarrayed reflection in the mirror, she had taken note of the dullness in her bloodshot eyes. Then she had taken a shower, afterwards eating a simple and bland meal, and changed her messed bed sheets.

She had collapsed back onto the bed, done performing normal tasks, lost for what to do with herself.

And now, while trying to overthink for the last couple of hours, she stares emptily up at the ceiling.

The house remains just as empty and desolate as she feels. It's not the same as when Dan simply ran away from her; he's really gone this time, taken from this world by her own hand. Most of his belongings sit here, scattered throughout the house, taunting her with memories of him.

But he's gone.

Gone.

He's gone forever.

Her sleep did little to force the ever present numbness away. Though now she can feel her emotions swirling, blending together. Loneliness, regret, grief, heart brokenness… she can't entirely discern them. She just knows they're there, buried in her and adding to her miserable existence.

Will there ever come a time where her actions will not harm another, especially those closest to her? She's tired of this constant pain that only seems to grow more the longer she lives. Better yet, when and how will she pay for her actions? Surely it will be by death, she reasons. It's only right.

That's what the Wise Ones will tell her, once Dan's death is discovered. They'll dispatch Hunters after her. They'll kill her, after revoking her status, her very existence, and reading her her crimes.

Her unforgiveable crimes.

It'll be better than living with herself and results of her actions. It'll be better than just being crushed by her loneliness, the weight of her grief. Maybe then she can feel again…

She would see the one person that can even begin to have a meaning of significance to Bella, but the sting of rejection still hurts. It aches, radiating out and through her body, like an injected toxin. Alice had chosen her family over Bella, who had sacrificed half of her heart for the girl. Bella can't say she blames her – one day, Alice will probably end up dead too because of Bella.

It's only a matter of when.

So she tells herself it's for the best. This is her punishment until the other Hunters come looking for her head, eager to serve her the justice that she deserves.

Honestly, she'd do the deed herself, but that just seems _too_ cowardly for her tastes.

Even if this is supposedly for the best, she still wants to be with the vampire. She can't, but god damnit does she want to. She wants her.

That's all she's ever wanted this entire time.

Alice.

She hops up out of bed for the second time, the whirling thoughts making her restless. She paces across her bedroom. When the room becomes too stuffy and suffocating for her own liking, she pulls open the single window with a little more force than necessary; outside, the sun sets low in the grey sky and a cool breeze wafts into the bedroom.

Her pacing resumes. She only grows more agitated with time's slow passing. Her agitation gradually gives way to a deeply-settled rage that has been building for a while.

A shadow appears at Bella's open window. She has reached the point where her emotions have established rule over her body's actions and turns towards it, ready to unleash her eternal frustration on whoever has dared intrude on her brooding.

However, she doesn't get the chance. The annoyance and frustration drains out of her once she sets eyes on Alice perched on her windowsill. Bitterness fills her up instead.

"What do you want?" the question sounds petulant coming from Bella's mouth. Obviously, she knows what Alice is here for – this is her goodbye.

Bella is just delaying the inevitable.

 _At least she's saying goodbye_. She sometimes hates the effect the vampire has on her. She can't be mad, just for the sake of being mad. She can never get completely out of control around her.

Alice doesn't answer, almost ignoring her. She gracefully slips down from the windowsill. Her feet land with gentles on the carpet. Her expression reveals little as her eyes track Bella's relentless pacing.

"You can't just invite yourself in here either," Bela snaps, stomping her foot and standing in place. Aware of her rather childlike behavior, she doesn't do anything to force the raven-haired girl out. "Forget it. Just make it quick."

Alice cocks a brow, crossing her arms over chest and leaning rather casually against the still open window. "Excuse me?"

"Make it quick," Bella repeats slowly, puncturing her words at Alice's continued confusion. She doesn't want the hurt to drag on for any longer than it has to.

"What are you talking about?"

"Aren't you here to say goodbye?"

"Why am I saying goodbye?"

"You don't have to play dumb," the brunette deadpans.

Alice's eyes narrow in calculated suspicion.

The Hunter sighs exasperatedly. "Esme already told me. You're leaving for Alaska."

The other girl pushes off the window, shaking her head disbelievingly as she takes a step towards Bella. Beneath the various swirling emotions in her golden eyes, the Hunter makes out the presence of light amusement there. Before Bella can angrily call her out on it, she answers with, "That's what this is about? Bella, I'm not going anywhere."

She stifles the glimmer of hope that sparks to life within her. Reality has not been very kind to her as of late; she's come to conclusion that Fate is nothing but a cruel thing. She's been living a nightmare for a while now. Why would that magically change now?

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't lie to me," Bella grinds out.

"I'm not going anywhere," the vampire reiterates.

"Alice—"

"Did you hear me?" Alice's voice raises. She pauses sharply then, stepping forward with a softly whispered: "They are."

"What?" Bella's heart pitter-patters with what she knows is false hope. She hates herself for giving into it. She's just knowingly setting herself up for another disappointing failure, an unbearably painful heartbreak by this vampire.

"They're going to stay with the Denali's in Alaska," Alice explains, biting her lip and looking away pointedly. "It'll be easier than trying to start over here, or anywhere closer. But I'm staying here. I never agreed with their plan to go."

"You're not leaving?" She's heard Alice's words, comprehended them. But that ball of hope swells bigger now. She has to be sure. She has to ask so she can be sure. Maybe her heart doesn't have to break completely; the thousand little broken pieces from it don't have to cut her until she can longer feel or care again.

"No," the vampire affirms. A small smile graces her red lips. "I'm not leaving. At least, not unless you want me to."

Out of pure relief, Bella sits down on her bed. She laughs breathlessly, feeling just a tad bit lighter. "Stay. Please. I don't want you to go."

"Good. Because even if you did, you would have to convince me to leave you."

"I didn't—sorry."

The apology slips out before Bella catches. She watches Alice's mouth twitch irately, but otherwise the vampire appears to let the admission of guilt slide. For the time being, that is.

She refuses to take it back, though, because she indeed is sorry. She has so many things to be sorry for. And she has to answer for these things one way or another. A sincere apology remains a good way to start.

Or at least Bella hopes it does.

Bella buries her face in her hands, elbows resting on her knees. The little bit of happiness she had felt is crushed under the weight of what her own hands have accomplished.

There's a shuffle of quick supernatural movement. Cold fingers pry Bella's hands from her face with little resistance. They tilt her head up to meet concerned golden eyes. Alice leans down, closes her eyes, and kisses the middle of her forehead. "I'm sorry, Bella," she whispers against the Hunter's warm skin there.

The Hunter knows what the other girl is getting at. She doesn't want to hear it – not because she doesn't care to, but because this sudden and stubborn ache hurts so goddamn much. Tears prickle behind her eyes. She jerks away from Alice's soothing touch, a low whine sounding from the back of her throat.

"Don't. I'm just—I'm tired."

She closes her eyes. She can hear Alice sigh, feel the slight depression of the mattress as she takes a seat beside her. The vampire maintains control of her head via the grip on Bella's chin, turning her so that she's facing Alice. The vampire only speaks again when Bella chances opening her eyes.

"You're hurting," Alice's soft voice cuts right through Bella, bringing the tears closer to the surface. A few streaks cascade down the brunette's face even though she strains to maintain her barely there composure.

"So are you," Bella tells her, her own voice faint, weak. She's so weak…

Alice says nothing, just guides the brunette's head to her shoulder and holds her close. Her fingers stroke comfortingly through Bella's locks. She shushes her softly, whispering sweet nothings in her ear.

It doesn't take long at all before the dam Bella has tried to construct breaks. Tears flow freely as she clutches Alice, allows the sadness to pull her under. Allows Alice to be her anchor to a grim reality.

She cries hard, as if the desperately needed release will somehow save the soul she's not quite sure she has anymore.

 **A/N: Still a few chapters away from finishing. Another big thanks to whoever has read this far!**


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